Ετικέτα: Architecture

Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki / The Rotunda:

Mosaics from the dome of the Rotunda. Rotunda, which resembles the Pantheon in Rome was intended as a temple devoted to Zeus or the twins Kaveiroi, or perhaps as a mausoleum for Emperor Galerius (4th century AD). It was converted to a christian temple in the 4th century AD, and to a mosque in 1590.

Today it functions as both a monument and a church. It is mostly famous for its splendid mosaics- for which conservation hasn’t been completed yet.

Byzantine Museum of Veroia:

Reconstruction of a post-Byzantine house, with original elements; fragments of the original murals, windows and a fireplace from the manor house of Sior Manolakis. The manor house built between 1829-1833 was one of the most beautiful houses of Veroia. The building was demolished by some elements from the “kalos ondas” or “best room” have survived. The ornate fireplace and the lattice-worked screens are installed in a room along with some artifacts from the house. The youngest girls of the family could enjoy the family gatherings by observing through the lattice screens while remaining unseen.

In post Byzantine times, all dwellings- elegant townhouse, country tower, working class home, and farmhouse alike- followed the same functional pattern. The ground floor was used for storage, cooking, and household crafts, with the main living quarters above. High walls usually protected outbuildings in the courtyards.

The manor houses (arhontika) so prevalent in the Balkans in the second half of the 18th century copied the architecture of the cities and were recognized as symbols of urbanisation, prestige and financial prosperity. They usually had more than one storey and their lower floors were characteristically designed for defence in contrast to the design of the upper floors with their many broad windows lightening the upper storeys. Their austere exteriors concealed interiors lavishly decorated with murals, wood panelling, coloured glass fanlights, panelled or coffered doors and shutters of various design and colour.  

Image from the official facebook page of the museum.

The Nekromanteion of Acheron:

The ancient nekromanteion or nekyomanteion (oracle of the dead) is in the nomos (county) of Preveza, on the north bank of the river Acheron. The region as a place of contact with the dead is also mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey; Odysseus arrives at the site in order to contact the spirit of Tiresias.

In ancient times the sanctuary belonged to the Thesprotians, one of the early greek tribes that settled Epirus at about 2000 B.C. Mycenaean installations dating from the 14th c. B.C have been noted in the region, Ephyra, 500m to the north of the sanctuary.

The sanctuary was discovered on the crest of a rocky hill, beneath the ruins of the monastery of St. John the Baptist (18th century), during excavations conducted by professor Sotirios Dakaris in the years 1958-1964 and 1976-1977.

The most important finds  come from the basement of the sanctuary, where the crypt was. There the remains of a device were found, a kind of crane used to make the figures of the deceased appear to the pilgrims. This may have also been the reason why the walls in the main sanctuary were so thick, making it possible to create secret passageways along which the priests could move unobserved.

The devices combined with the side-effects of the special diet of beans and lupins to which pilgrims were subjected, created the necessary preconditions for communicating with the souls of the dead.

Visitors departed from a different road than the one they had arrived from at the sanctuary and were required to keep silent about what they had seen and heard to avoid being impious towards the deities of the Underworld.

The nekromanteion was burned down by the Romans in 167 B.C. The courtyard was reoccupied in the 1st century. According to Dietwulf Baatz the sanctuary might not have been a sanctuary at all, but a Hellenistic fortified private residence due to the great number of agricultural tools and fishing equipment that was found, along with the limited number of religious figurines*.

(text/translation by Ioulia Katsadima)

*Though the site might have been reused as a residence, it was not uncommon to devote common utensils to a sanctuary. Τhe site could have also been looted since it was discovered relatively late by archaeologists of the state. Religious objects might have also been destroyed by the residents of the monastery in the 18th century. Churches and monasteries were habitually founded on top of or even within ancient sanctuaries in an effort to exorcise the “old pagan daemons” from these places and sanctify them.

Ancient Messene / Northern Stoa and The fountain house of Arsinoe:

Arsinoe was a mythical princess, daughter of the mythical king of Messenia, Leukippos, and mother of Asclepios. The fountain house dedicated to her received its water from the Klepsydra spring. A forty meters long cistern was housed within. The monument received additions and restorations up until the Early Christian era, when it was converted to a water-mill.

Ancient Messene / The sanctuary of Asclepios:

The sanctuary of Asclepios was one of the most important in Messene, functioning as religious and political center of the city. More than 140 bases for bronze statues of eminent citizens as well as five exedrae were placed around the temple, the altar, and along the stoas.

In the complex of the sanctuary there were a number of administrative buildings, a funerary monument and sanctuaries devoted to Artemis and Demeter. The complex also houses an amphitheatrical ekklesiasterion, where the citizens assembled- in which you cannot sit.

The satellite view is from google maps