Paul the Apostle, one of the disciples of Christ, came to Athens in year 52 to tell the Athenians about Jesus. Among the citizens who listened to his gospel was Dionysios Areopagitis or St Denis, who was the first to convert to the new Christian religion and was later canonised. The 19th-century church with beautiful columns and arcades on Panepistimiou Street is named after this first Christian of Athens.