A priest based in Athens, Archimandrite Armaos Athanasios, visits Cargèse several times a year to conduct services in the Greek church. As of September, 2021, Archimandrite Antoine Forget was transferred from the Greek Melkite Catholic parish in Marseille to be pastor of both the Greek and Latin churches in Cargese, allowing weekly liturgies in both churches. Latin church of the Assumption The Latin church was the first to be built. Construction began in 1825 but was held up because of the lack of finance. A total of 14 requests were made to the French government for assistance before the church was completed 1850. The trompe-l'œil decoration was executed in 1928-1930 by the Russian painter Nicolas Ivanoff, a resident of Cargèse. The nave was decorated by Edmond Rocchiccioli between 1970 and 1975 while the choir was decorated between 1992 and 1997 by Russian artists Anastassiya Sokolova and Valeri Tchernoritski. In 1999-2000 the church was completely restored in a project jointly financed by the Assemblée Régionale Corse, the Conseil Général de la Corse du Sud and the Commune of Cargèse. The building consists of a barrel-vaulted nave with two semicircular side chapels. The choir is separated from the nave by steps and the communion table. The square bell tower on the north side of the church is capped by an octagonal lantern. The three bells date from 1887. Above the entrance door is a 17th-century painting attributed to the School of Bologna. This work originally formed part of the collection of Cardinal Fesch and is one of four paintings given to Cargèse by the town of Ajaccio in 1865. Each of the churches now houses two of the paintings. The stained-glass window above the main entrance representing the Immaculate Conception was installed in 2000. Greek Catholic church of Saint Spyridon The Greek Catholic church is on the west side of the little valley of Murgana. Construction of the church began in 1852 but progress was slow. The English artist and poet Edward Lear visited Cargèse in 1868 and noted "the large building which is so conspicuous in all the views of Carghèsè, and which they tell me is the new Greek church; it is a mere shell, standing unfinished for lack of funds". The church was finally completed in 1876. The iconostasis, the wooden partition separating the nave from the sanctuary, had been designed in 1881 for the Basilian monastery of Santa