Byzantine Civilization - now and then
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derrière un stéréotype culturel bien précis ce qui m'a interpellé ,ce sont :la simplicité extérieure et surtout la diversité de leurs implantations , que ce soit en ville ou en rase campagne -
One of the numerous Byzantine churches of Kastoria.
The saint depicted here is St Stephanos and the church dates from around 900.
I think I counted six other churches within 100m radius of this one, all still in use.
Saint Basil the Great is a small church with a unique mixture of architectural styles. The golden dome and cross reflect the church's denomination, Byzantine Catholic. The rest of the building is very modern and non-descript, probably because of convenience and lower expense.
Because its setting is surrounded on three sides by a public park, the church seems to be tucked into a forest, which frames its appearance very nicely.
Ruins of Efkarpia Byzantine tower
Ruins of a big tower in the fields 3km east of the village Efkarpia of Serres region, 850m from the west bank of Strymon river.
The tower is not mentioned in Byzantine or other historic sources. We know that in this area existed a proastion (settlement) which in 1299 was granted by emperor Andronicos II Palaiologos to the Monastery of Chilandar of Mount Athos.
So, most probably, this was a monastic tower similar to the towers of Chlakidiki, the purpose of which was to protect and serve the various dependencies of the monasteries of Mount Athos. The type of construction and the little that we know about the history of the region date the tower around the middle of the 14th century.
The layout of the tower is almost a square with internal dimensions 6.5m✖7.0m, wall thickness 2m, preserved at the maximum height of 7m.
I took a photo that I took of my beloved Mr. Purry Furry lazing in the sun to Deep Dream Generator. The result is a mosaic that is reminiscent of Byzantine/Roman mosaics. Mr. Purry Furry died in 2017, but I think that this image of him really captures his character perfectly.
"Dogs believe they are human. Cats believe they are God."
~Anonymous
Medieval Byzantine chant (14th century AD).
Title: "Ευλογήσατε τον Κυρίον" (Bless the Lord)
Composer: Maistor Ioannes Koukouzeles
Performers: Greek Byzantine Choir
Album: "Mathimata Maistoros Koukouzele"
Psalm 83 [Greek Septuagint]
"How Beloved Are Thy Dwellings"
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photo:
13th century parekklesion (side chapel) at Pammakaristos Church
former Monastery of Theotokos Pammakaristos
Church of Theotokos Pammakaristos, Constantinople
present Fethiye Mosque Museum, Istanbul
Fethiye Camii [Mosque of The Conquest]
Çarşamba neighbourhood, Fatih district of Istanbul
Θεοτόκος ἡ Παμμακάριστος
Μονή Παμμακάριστου, Κωνσταντινούπολη
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pammakaristos_Church
www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/istanbul-fethiye-camii
www.thebyzantinelegacy.com/pammakaristos
Cross-in-square
Omorfokklisia ("beautiful church") is a 12th-century Byzantine church in the northeastern suburbs of Athens. Dedicated to St. George.
Over the apse of the 6th-century Euphrasian Basilica in Poreč, Croatia
The upper mosaics represent a beardless Jesus Christ and the Apostles.
Under the arch below, which contains "mosaic medallions with the Lamb of God and portraits of twelve female martyrs", you can see a matronly Mary with her child Jesus looking like a miniature adult. This clumsy depiction of the Mother of God is the only survinging one "in an early-Christian western basilica".
"She is flanked by angels, Bishop Euphrasius, holding the model of the church; also local saints are depicted, including St. Maurus, the first bishop of Poreč and the Istrian diocese, and the archdeacon Claudius."
Below you can see the upper part of the marble ciborium, which was built some 700 years later, more exactly in 1277.
Information and quotations from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphrasian_Basilica
The light of the east gives a three-dimensional feeling, increasing the imposingness and picturesqueness of the Byzantine landscape
My Board "Monemvasia" on gettyinages
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Another shot framing San Vitale interiors. This has been taken from the presbytery floor looking up and outside.
Christ is described at Chora as "Land of the Living"
[Χώρα των ζώντων]
music:
Medieval Byzantine Nativity chant (Kathismata of Christmas).
Title: "Μυστήριο ξένον" (Wondrous Mystery)
Service: Matins of Nativity
Performers: Greek Byzantine Choir
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photo:
inner narthex dome with Genealogy of Christ
from the Cycle of Christ's Infancy and Ministry
Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, Istanbul
www.columbia.edu/cu/wallach/exhibitions/Byzantium/html/bu...
Chora Museum, Chora Monastery (Contantinople)
Μονή της Χώρας, Μουσείο Χώρας, Κωνσταντινούπολη
Kariye Müzesi, Kariye Camii, Kariye Kilisesi, Istanbul
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chora_Church
www.columbia.edu/cu/wallach/exhibitions/Byzantium/
www.byzantium1200.com/chora.html
www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/istanbul-st-savior-in-...
www.doaks.org/library-archives/icfa/moving-image-collecti...
New blog: "Low Fat Mushy Pea Curry", I know it sounds horrendous, but trust me… this mushy pea curry is superb and very easy to make. It actually tastes just like chippers curry LOL…
Here is the recipe
Previous blogs
Christ is described at Chora as "Land of the Living"
[Χώρα των ζώντων]
music:
The famous byzantine Lamentations of the Tomb of Christ, sung during the Matins of Holy and Great Saturday (Holy Friday evening). The official name of the hymns is "Εγκώμια", which is greek and means "Praises". The Praises (although considered being hymns of lament) are chanted in Plagal 1st and 3rd Tones, which are actually used for chants intended for triumphant occasions. On this performance parts of all three Staseis of the Praise are chanted. Note that in the beginning of each part, the second verse is chanted in arabic.
Title: "Εγκώμια - Α' Στάσις / Β' Στάσις / Γ' Στάσις" (Praises - 1st / 2nd / 3rd Stasis)
Service: Holy and Great Saturday Matins
Performers: Greek Byzantine Choir
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photo:
Parekklesion [funerary chapel] of the
Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, Istanbul
www.columbia.edu/cu/wallach/exhibitions/Byzantium/html/bu...
Chora Museum, Chora Monastery (Contantinople)
Μονή της Χώρας, Μουσείο Χώρας, Κωνσταντινούπολη
Ἐκκλησία του Ἅγιου Σωτῆρος ἐν τῃ Χώρᾳ
The Church of the Holy Redeemer in the Fields
Church of the Holy Saviour in the Country
Kariye Müzesi, Kariye Camii, Kariye Kilisesi, Istanbul, Turkey
"The funerary chapel contains prefigurations of the Virgin and Themes of Resurrection and Judgment. Like the narthexes, the program of the parekklesion is divided between the Virgin and Christ. Here, however, the overriding theme is Salvation, befitting a funeral chapel. The western domed bay is devoted to the Virgin; the upper walls represent Old Testament prefigurations of the Virgin, emphasizing her role in Salvation. The eastern bay is devoted to the Last Judgment. The complex program of the chapel culminates in the conch of the apse, where the Anastasis (Harrowing of Hell) is represented, flanked by scenes of resurrection. Unlike the narthexes and the naos, the parekkelsion is decorated with frescoes."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chora_Church
www.columbia.edu/cu/wallach/exhibitions/Byzantium/
www.byzantium1200.com/chora.html
www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/istanbul-st-savior-in-...
www.doaks.org/library-archives/icfa/moving-image-collecti...
An important castle of north Greece on top of a hill in a very beautiful landscape. Although it is a big castle and very close to a road with heavy traffic, it is not easily visible. Moreover, it is not open to the public.
History
Excavations carried out on the hill and its environs have revealed traces of human presence since Neolithic times; on the basis of their construction and associated finds, the building walls and abutments unearthed in the southwest section of the castle date to the Hellenistic period. Rentina lies close to the settlement of Arethousa, which went into decline from the 6th century onwards. According to one interpretation, Rentina may take its name from the nearby staging post (mutatio) called Peridipidis (genitive: Peripidinis).
The fortifications at Rentina are reasonably well preserved, as are the impressive remains of a settlement that may well be Artemision Castle, referred to by Procopius in his work On Buildings as having acquired fortifications in the time of Justinian. Nevertheless, research findings to date indicate that the first fortifications, which included water cisterns capable of supporting a small guard, should be dated to the mid-4th century. Under Justinian the wall was reinforced with towers and equipped with a large cistern on the level ground in the citadel.
In mid-Byzantine times the wall was rebuilt to serve as fortifications for a settlement founded in the first half-decade of the 10th century, when it was seat of the Diocese of Lete and Rentina. At that time a church was built over the ruins of the then defunct cistern on the citadel, together with accommodation for the bishop and his retinue. By the end of the same century several houses had been erected in the lower town, following the line of the old wall and on stepped terraces. A third wall then surrounded the settlement from the most vulnerable section to the west, where a tower was built. Wood remains from the interior of this have been carbon dated to around 980 AD.
After 1204 the settlement was surrendered to the rulers of the Frankish Kingdom of Thessalonica. As indicated by the large number of contemporary coins found in excavations, they appear to have installed a permanent guard, with the obvious aim of controlling the Plain of Thessalonica and the Strymonic Gulf.
In 1242 John Vatatzes took the castle while marching on Thessalonica, since, as George Acropolites would have it, the Franks abandoned their position without a fight. News of the inhabitants of Rentina in the 13th and 14th century is contained in legal documents held by monasteries on Mount Athos, where mention is made of lands, mills and houses in the area. In the first half-decade of the 14th century a small cruciform church was built inside the eastern enclosure, possibly in connection with an infant and child cemetery.
In the mid-14th century it appears that the inhabitants gradually abandoned the settlement, which passed successively into the hands of Serbs, Greeks and then Turks. The arrival of Turkish Yuruks in the area probably led the greater part of the population to seek the safety of larger centres, the most prominent of which was Volvi. The few coins excavated from that time up until the mid-16th century are illustrative of the decline of the once flourishing settlement at Rentina, confirming the existence of a small-scale farm on the same site.
The Chora Church or Chora Mosque, full former name the Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, is a medieval Greek Orthodox church building, since 2020 used as a mosque, in the Edirnekapı neighborhood of Istanbul, Turkey. It is mainly famous for its outstanding Late Byzantine mosaics and frescos.
The building is an example of Byzantine architecture. In the 16th century, during the Ottoman era, it was converted into a mosque; it became a museum in 1945, and was turned back into a mosque in 2020 by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The interior of the building is covered with some of the finest surviving Byzantine Christian mosaics and frescoes, which were left in plain sight during Muslim worship throughout much of the Ottoman era. They were restored after the building was secularized and turned into a museum.
The neighborhood is situated in the western part of the municipality (belediye) of the Fatih district.
Church of the Paregoretissa (Greek: Παναγία ἠ Παρηγορήτισσα, "Panagia of Consolation") ( 13th-century) in Arta, Greece
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photo:
exposed gallery brickwork vaulting
Church of St. Sergius and Bacchus, Constantinople
present Küçük Ayasofya Mosque [Little Hagia Sophia] Istanbul
Küçük Ayasofya Camii
Kumkapı neighborhood, Fatih district, Istanbul
www.3dmekanlar.com/en/small-ayasofya-mosque-2.html
Eκκλησία τῶν Άγίων Σεργίου καί Βάκχου, Κωνσταντινούπολη
Μικρή Αγία Σοφία
Main structure completed in 536
Architects Isidorus of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Hagia_Sophia
www.byzantium1200.com/sergio.html
www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/istanbul-church-of-sts...
Saint Dimitrios Holy Orthodox Metropolitan Church in the lower town of Mystras, Greece, was founded in 1264 and served as the cathedral of the late Byzantine state. Today it is part of the museum of the Archaeological Site of Mystras.
Early Byzantine mosaics in the Middle East are a group of Christian mosaics created between the 4th and the 8th centuries in ancient Syria, Palestine and Egypt when the area belonged to the Byzantine Empire. The eastern provinces of the Eastern Roman and later the Byzantine Empires inherited a strong artistic tradition from Late Antiquity. The tradition of making mosaics was carried on in the Umayyad era until the end of the 8th century. The great majority of these works of art were later destroyed but archeological excavations unearthed many surviving examples.
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photo:
Church of St. Sergius and Bacchus, Constantinople
present Küçük Ayasofya Mosque [Little Hagia Sophia] Istanbul
Küçük Ayasofya Camii
Kumkapı neighborhood, Fatih district, Istanbul
www.3dmekanlar.com/en/small-ayasofya-mosque-2.html
Eκκλησία τῶν Άγίων Σεργίου καί Βάκχου, Κωνσταντινούπολη
Μικρή Αγία Σοφία
Main structure completed in 536
Architects Isidorus of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Hagia_Sophia
www.byzantium1200.com/sergio.html
www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/istanbul-church-of-sts...
After 900 years these Byzantine frescoes were restored in the church of Kloster Prüfening, Regensburg, Bavaria. Dedicated to Franco-Iannello.
Whenever I look up at a dome I feel like I am inside a Kaleidoscope!
Aachen Cathedral (805 AD) is also known as the Kaiserdom ("Imperial Cathedral") of Aachen or the Cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle to the British. It was built by Charlemagne (Karl der Grosse in German), the first Holy Roman Emperor and it was designed in the Byzantine style.