Listed 8 sub titles with search on: Places of worship for destination: "KASTORIA Town MAKEDONIA WEST".
Three-aisled basilica of the "Oriental" type, with a narthex and a
gallery. The aisles and the narthex are covered with barrel-vaults but over the
gallery the roof is semi-barrel vaulted. In the apse there is a synthronon (bench)
with a bishop's cathedra in the middle. A small chapel dedicated to St. Anne is
formend in the south section of the gallery.
Two layers of the wall paintings
of the church have been uncovered. The earlier, which dates from the end of
the 9th or the beginning of the 10th century, covers the narthex,
the side aisles, the middle aisle up to the height of the celestory, and part
of the gallery. The second layer, dated to the end of the 12th century, is visible
on the high celestory and the lower friezes of the pillars.
The
church has undergone several phases of restoration and protection work.
The triple-aisled basilica of Ayios Stephanos in Kastoria is one of
the oldest ecclesiastical monuments of the Balkan Peninsula. It has attractive
tile decoration and wall-paintings, the earliest of which date to the 9th century.
These wall-paintings are of exceptional significance as an example
of early painting reflecting a high level of iconographic and artistic attainment.
The painting is flat and abstract, with strange colour combinations, and the compositions
are geometrically arranged.
Some scattered dedicatory or liturgical scenes in the narthex and
on the lower sections of the walls in the main body of the church date to the
12th century. Scenes on the ceiling of this part of the church must have been
executed around 1200, while some others date to the 13th and 14th centuries.
By kind permission of:Ekdotike Athenon
This text is cited Nov 2003 from the Macedonian Heritage URL below, which contains image.
Triconch, domed church
founded in the 10th century. The exonarthex is a later addition. Three layers
of wall paintings are distinguished in the building: the earlier is dated
to 1260-1280 and is preserved on the arches of the naos
(except for the east) and on the walls of the esonarthex (except for the west).
A more recent layer, dated to the 17th century, covers the east arm of the cross,
the apse of the sanctuary, and the exonarthex.
The church was bombed in the 1940's and the dome and several parts
of the superstructure had collapsed. It was completely restored in the 1950's.
The Panayia (Virgin) Koumbelidiki or Skoutariotissa, a small triconch
church dated to the 10th century, has become the emblem of Kastoria. The small
dimensions of the church and its high dome with a variety of masonry work make
it an architectural gem of the city.
The 13th century wall-paintings are in poor condition. Their attraction
now lies largely in the Dormition of the Virgin at the west end of the main body
of the church, and in the rare representation of the Holy Trinity in the narthex.
Taken as a whole, the painting is conventional and lacks an inner
quality, yet it contains certain innovative features that foretell the creative
outburst of the Palaeologan age. Some of the painting in the narthex dates to
the 17th century, while the murals on the west front of the church were executed
in 1496.
By kind permission of:Ekdotike Athenon
This text is cited Nov 2003 from the Macedonian Heritage URL below, which contains image.
The church of the Taxiarchis (Archangel) of the Metropolis, a small
triple-aisled basilica with narthex, is of 10th century construction. Its considerable
interest lies equally in its antiquity and in its original wall-paintings.
While they have deteriorated through age, these paintings are of importance
to the study of art in the Middle Byzantine period. The old murals were painted
over in 1359/60, the more recent being the ones most visible today.
These later murals display their own characteristic techniques that
do not follow the rules governing painting as formulated at the time in the large
urban centres of Byzantium. From then on a local painting workshop existed in
Kastoria; it was inspired by locally conceived aesthetic canons and persisted
until the first years of the 16th century.
By kind permission of:Ekdotike Athenon
This text is cited Nov 2003 from the Macedonian Heritage URL below, which contains image.
Ayios Nikolaos Kasnitzis is a small single-aisled church with 12th
century wall-paintings. These paintings provide a perfect example of how a church
of this shape is to be decorated.
The upper register of the painted surface is covered with scenes from
the Gospels and the lower with a row of full-length figures of saints. In the
narthex there are scenes from the life of Saint Nicholas, whom the church honours,
and representations of the donors, Nikephoros Kasnitzis and his wife Anna.
As for the artistic intent, all the figures display a similarity of
style, being the work of a painter bent on portraying tall, supple bodies and
noble faces, and using subdued colours devoid of abrupt transitions of tone. The
prevalent harmony and the rejection of all inessentials create a sense of that
unique inner solemnity which reflects the religious ideals current in the Komnenian
age.
By kind permission of:Ekdotike Athenon
This text is cited Nov 2003 from the Macedonian Heritage URL below, which contains images.
The church of Ayioi Anargyroi (dedicated to Saints Kosmas and Damianos)
is a three-aisled basilica of the 11th century with marvellous tile decoration
and interesting proportions. It has two layers of wall-paintings that belong to
the 11th and 12th centuries respectively.
The earliest murals, which are clearly visible where the later ones
have crumbled away, are not particularly expressive, being of a very conservative
character.
The 12th century paintings, on the other hand, present a rich iconography
and display all the signs of conspicuous artistic merit consistent with the dynamism
of Komnenian art. Elongated figures of saints, their faces imbued with an intense
spirituality, their stance noble, almost theatrical, create scenes in harmonious
colours that comprise one of the most important works of Byzantine art.
One may marvel at the figures, among several others, of the donor
Theodoros Limniotis, his wife Anna, their son Ioannis, and of the monk Theophilos
Limniotis.
By kind permission of:Ekdotike Athenon
This text is cited Nov 2003 from the Macedonian Heritage URL below, which contains images.
The single-aisled church with narthex of the Panayia (Virgin) Mavriotissa,
the katholikon of the monastery bearing the same name, is probably an 11th century
building. A chapel dedicated to John the Theologian, with wall-paintings executed
in 1552 by the artist Eustathios Iakovou, was erected beside it in the 16th century.
The paintings that have survived in the katholikon are confined to
the sanctuary, the west wall of the main body of the church and the narthex. Their
particular style gives rise to pronounced reservations regarding their date, estimates
varying from the 11th to the early 13th centuries. Moreover their style lacks
features which would relate the paintings with local tradition.
The violence depicted in the wall-paintings and the distortions occurring
in the drawing reach the extremes of abstraction. Some of these old wall-paintings
were restored in the 13th century, while the exterior wall of the narthex was
decorated with new ones.
By kind permission of:Ekdotike Athenon
This text is cited Nov 2003 from the Macedonian Heritage URL below, which contains images.
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