Remarks on the architecture of the church of Hagia Kyriaki at Apeiranthos, Naxos, L’aniconisme dans l’art religieux byzantin, Actes du colloque de Genève (1-3 octobre 2009), 223-9, ill. 337-49. (original) (raw)
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PROCEEDINGS OF THE 23RD INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF BYZANTINE STUDIES (BELGRADE, 22 – 27 AUGUST 2016). THEMATIC SESSIONS OF FREE COMMUNICATIONS, 2016
Acheiropoietos basilica comprises a phenomenally preserved, typical example of the threeaisled timber-roofed Hellenistic-type basilica with narthex and galleries, thus fitting more than any of the Thessalonican monuments to the standardized Early Byzantine ecclesiastical architecture. Due to the overall symmetry of its architectural form and the presumable homogeneity of its original sculptural decoration, Acheiropoietos is usually considered as the last maintained architectural composition of the city that still echoes the aesthetics of the Late Antiquity. However, based on a recent architectural and sculptural analysis of the monument, it occurs that Acheiropoietos was originally erected as a m Roman-type basilica without galleries during the last decade of the fifth or the first decade of the sixth century (ca. 500). Even though the ground-plan of the church remained unaltered through the ages, its upper-structure was later remodeled. The galleries, a not surviving clerestory and extended annexes were added during the first —among many— structural restoration of the building that took place during the seventh century, as a result of the 620-630 series of earthquakes that devastated large part of the city along with its main urban infrastructure and ecclesiastical monuments. Based on this new evidence, the present paper presents the various architectural sculptures of the basilica as: (a) a variety of bases of both the classical and the simplified variations of the attic-ionic type, (b) various column shafts, (c) the largest maintained group of twenty nine composite capitals with double fined-toothed acanthus leaves at the tribelon, the nave and the outer-narthex colonnade that beyond their superficial uniformity are divided in four subgroups, (d) various subtypes of the Impost-ionic capitals at the south gallery colonnade, (e) the twenty nine decorated impost-blocks that crown the composite capitals of the nave colonnades, (f) the consoles that support the traverse arches of the narthex, as well as (g) a variety of different type cornices adorning the masonry of the segmental apse and the nave arcades. At the same time the several types of Constantinopolitan mason marks that connect the primary architectural sculptures of the main nave with specific imperial sculptural workshops of the sixth century are discussed. Based on this recent study, the architectural sculptures of the gallery level, that until recently were encountered as parts of the original building, have been re-dated and attributed to its second phase. At the same time, several, unobserved until now, characteristics of those at the ground level—apparently belonging to the first phase sculptural decoration of the basilica— showcase that they were not tailor-made for the late fifth-early sixth century basilica; on the contrary they consist of (a) ready-made architectural sculptures, made with proconesian marble in Constantinopolitan workshops, (b) lower-quality sculptures of local workshops made with white coarse-grained marble form the Thassian quarries at Alyki, and (c) secondary, mostly undecorated, architectural members as imposts and thresholds that were cut on the building site from marble sarcophagi, looted from the abandoned Late Roman cemeteries of the city.
constantinoPolitan features in the middle Byzantine architecture of naXos * naxos, situated in the heart of the aegean sea, is the largest of the cyclades islands and holds a particular place in the study of Byzantine architecture, as it preserves over a hundred churches dating from the early christian to the late Byzantine times 1 . the survival of this impressive number of churches is connected with the absence of major human-caused or physical calamities in the history of the island, but also with the special importance of the island during all stages of its mediaeval past. after the mid 7th century, naxos suffers from arab raids, like all coastal regions of the aegean sea, but its mountainous -yet fertile -inland parts offer a safe shelter for the inhabitants 2 . archaeological evidence indicates an uninterrupted activity during the so-called dark ages, even though, according to the early 10th century testimony of cameniates, it appears that the island was paying tribute to the arabs of crete 3 . the re-conquest of crete in 961 and the restoration of peace in the aegean mark the beginning of the middle Byzantine era, a period of over two centuries of significant prosperity 4 . the founding of the diocese of Paronaxia in 1083 5 and of the theme of the "cycladic islands" around the mid 10th century 6 , whose capital was perhaps naxos 7 , are indications of this prosperity and also of the empire's attention to the island. its importance is also the reason for which, after the conquest of constantinople by the crusaders, marco sanudo founds in 1205 the duchy of naxos which controls most of the cyclades islands for over 300 years 8 . the middle Byzantine architecture of naxos has not been thoroughly studied. many buildings remain unpublished or have been published very briefly. there are significant problems of dating as well as issues of a complicated succession of building phases. however, it is possible to make some general remarks. regarding the evolution of architectural types, it seems that the general trends that prevail elsewhere can also be traced on naxos. from the 9th century onwards, the vaulted basilical type gives way to domed types, of which the cross-in-square gradually prevails, especially in its contracted variation which becomes the most preferable type in the 11th and 12th centuries 9 . regarding the architectural forms and decoration 10 , naxos remained largely attached to a local tradition which had developed throughout the so-called * i wish to thank the state hermitage museum for including this paper in the programme of the seminar and personally dr. denis Jolshin who encouraged me and the greek colleagues in taking a trip to st. Petersburg. the subject of this paper is part of a research on the island of naxos, carried out in the framework of the doctoral thesis which i am preparing at the university of Patras, under the supervision of dr. stavros mamaloukos.
"The island of Naxos, situated in the heart of Aegean Sea, Greece, occupies a significant position in Byzantine art due to the large number of churches, many of which with wall paintings, that date from the early and middle Byzantine periods, as well as from the period between the 13th and 14th centuries, when Naxos was under the rule of the Venetians. The existence of such a large number of wall panting layers constitute an authentic testimony to the artistic vitality, and furthermore, to the social and financial level of the island at that time. Recently, the 2nd Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities for the Cyclades (Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism) has conducted a rescue operation to the church of Holy Anargyroi in the region of Sagri, from which two layers of significant painted surfaces were discovered and conserved. This paper will concentrate on the analysis of the programme and style of the wall paintings, trying to draw conclusions on the dating, the patronage and the monument function. My research, also, is intended to shed light to related subjects, like the role of the Naxians to the artistic output during the period under Venetian occupation, the probable existence of western influences in the art of Naxian wall paintings of this period, and in general, the process of the artistic confrontation and integration between the two cultures. In this way, I will try to envisage the cultural setting within which the monumental painting of this period was produced. "
Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art, 2021
The restoration work carried out by the Ephorate of Antiquities of Imathia at the Old Metropolitan Cathedral in Veria has restored for the city its most important Byzantine church, a monumental palimpsest that recorded centuries of the history of the city and its people 1. The Middle Byzantine three-aisled basilica with transept was renovated by the Despots of Epirus and again during the era of the Palaiologan Dynasty. It was converted into a mosque around the turn of the 17 th century and remained Veria's great imperial mosque until the liberation of the city in 1912 [53, pp. 134-245, 265-271]. The first conservation and exploratory excavation work began in the 1960s [13, pp. 249-250] and continued, albeit limited in scope and duration, until systematic restoration work on the monument eventually began (Ill. 32). This essay presents sculptures that came to light during the first phase of the investigations and the main phase of the restoration of the Old Metropolis in 2011-2015. They form a group with common stylistic features and are associated with a phase of renewal of the church's liturgical furnishings in the first two decades of the 14 th century, when the ecclesiastical seat of Veria was raised from an Archdiocese to a Metropolitan seat [44, pp. 58-59]. The group of sculptures in question was first discovered in the period 1978-1980, when Professor Theocharis Pazaras, curator of antiquities of the newly founded 11 th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, noticed characteristic groups of cornices, columns and slabs while arranging the collection of sculptures stored in the twin Ottoman bath [45, p. 161]. In the following years, the group was enriched thanks to the research work conducted by Professor Efthy-1