Rock Complex of Madonna of the Virtues and Saint Nicholas of the Greeks, Matera

The rupestrian churches of Matera are buildings carved into limestone rock. These structures were created in the early Middle Ages. The rock church Madonna of the Virtues (Madonna delle Virtu) was built circa 1000 AD. The adjoining monastery was the home of refugee nuns from Acre or Accon in the Middle East.

The church has a basilica plan of three naves divided by large columns. The columns support "donkey-back" vaults. The women's gallery has arches and columns in relief. The nave apses are semicircular. The vault forms a dome inscribed with a Greek cross in relief. The entrance is from a side nave; road construction in 1934 cut it in half.

The central apse has an 18th-century fresco of the Virgin and Saint John at the crucifixion. The right aisle holds a Gothic, 14th, or 15th-century crucifixion. There is a tuff quarry chamber in the middle of the right nave.

The penitent nuns of Saint Maria di Accon were brought to Matera's Madonna of the Virtues in 1198. They moved in the 13th century to the monastery of Santa Maria Foggiali, the San Giovanni Battista of today.

Above the church is the 10th-century monastery of Saint Nicholas of the Greeks (San Nicola Dei Greci). It is probably the oldest crypt in Matera. It has two naves and apses. The apsidal basin houses a 14th-century fresco of the crucifixion. In the left aisle is a 13th-century triptych of saints. Today, the church and the crypt of Saint Nicholas of the Greeks are used as art exhibition spaces.