Byzantine Civilization - now and then
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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.
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
The Agios Eleftherios church, also known as Mikri Mitropoli ("little metropolitan church") or Panagia Gorgoepikoos is a Byzantine-era church located at the Mitropolis square, next to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens (Megali Mitropoli).
The 12th-century church of the Virgin Mary Gorgoepikoos, also known to Athenians as Agios Eleftherios, or the small cathedral, is located in Mitropoleos Square. Its cruciform configuration and extremely well-preserved dome make it the best-preserved example of the Athenian-style dome structure.
While the church is based upon a simple, brick-enclosed design, the upper part of its masonry features dozens of beautiful reliefs from all of the city’s historic eras. Most of the church’s interior frescoes were painted later, during the 20th century.
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 cathedral was built in the second half of XIX century in Neo-Byzantine style and dedicated to the prince of Kievan Rus who converted the country to Orthodox Christianity. Several cathedrals and churches dedicated to St. Vladimir were built in the Russian Empire to mark 900 years of St. Vladimir's baptism, with the main event of the countrywide celebration in 1888 taking place in Kyiv; unfortunately, the cathedral was not quite finished and was officially consecrated 8 years later.
Владимирский собор был построен во второй половине XIX века в нео-византийском стиле. Несколько соборов и церквей в честь Св. Владимира было построено в Российской империи к празднованию 900-летия Крещения Руси в 1888 г., и именно в Киеве это событие должно было отмечаться особо торжественно, но собор не успели завершить к празднику, и он был освящён лишь спустя 8 лет.
Another shot framing San Vitale interiors. This has been taken from the presbytery floor looking up and outside.
The Piazza outside the corresponding Basilica di San Frediano, in the old town of the Tuscan city of Lucca, Italy.
Built in the 1100s, the Basilica of San Frediano replaced an earlier structure dedicated to St Vincent (but raised by St Fridianus, the bishop of Lucca, canonised after his death). The huge golden mosaic of the Ascension of Christ the Saviour with the apostles below, designed by Berlinghiero Berlinghieri designed in a Byzantine/medieval style, was added in the 13th-14th centuries.
The pigeon was just for fun.
Manual 2-shot HDR taken with a Nikon D7000 and a Nikkor AFS DX 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6G lens, and manually blended and processed in GIMP, with some tweaks in Photoscape.
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
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.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O5YnCrIWQ8
Medieval Byzantine Paschal (Easter) chant.
Title: "Αναστάσεως Ημέρα" (Day of the Resurrection )
Service: Divine Liturgy of Pascha (Easter Mass)
Χριστός ἀνέστη!
Христос Воскрес!
Christ is Risen!
Hristos a înviat!
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photo:
fresco of the Resurrection in the
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 Anastasis, or Resurrection, is located in the conch of the apse, one of the most impressive works of Late Byzantine painting. It depicts Christ’s triumph over death through his descent into hell to redeem the souls of the righteous of the Old Testament who, led by John the Baptist, gather before rocks on each side. He grasps Adam and Eve by their wrists and lifts them from their sarcophagi."
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...
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photo:
brickwork vaulting over the diaconicon
Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, Istanbul
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...
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...
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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...
The view from the upper floor of the Hagia Sophia looking out to the Blue Mosque.
2015 10 29 134826 Turkey Istanbul Holiday 1PM