Tucked away on a narrow, curving road just off Bute Street in Cardiff is the Greek Orthodox Church of St Nicholas. Standing in the shadow of several surrounding buildings, some residents of the city may not even be aware of its existence. Save for four glittering mosaics around the church's entrance that hint at its majestic and cavernous interior, its external red-brick structure can be easily overlooked and underappreciated by passers-by.
In fact, when we pay a visit to learn about its long history, one of the questions we are asked by Father Nicholas Price, the parish priest, is: how did we find out about the church in the first place? "It's amazing that people don't know about us," he says, bemused. "Every year, when we have open doors before Covid, we'd get about 50 people, and of those at least half would say: 'I'm 60 years old, I've lived in Cardiff all my life and I never knew this church existed.'"
But to not know about the church is to miss out - not only on its breath-taking beauty, but also on its significance as a place of worship and thriving community hub. With its dome, Byzantine-style roof, icon screen, intricately painted walls and floral and geometric designs, Father Nicholas explains that its appearance is typical of Eastern Orthodox churches. In fact, it's one of the few purpose-built Greek Orthodox churches in Britain - the majority being old Anglican churches which have been converted - albeit on a small scale. Its vast dome boasts a painting of Christ Pantocrator, which was created by a Cretan artist around 1994 to 1996, while icons - a lot of which were painted by an Athenian artist - cover almost every inch of the walls.
