At the corner of Erectheos St. and
Erokriton St. in Plaka.
Arrange to see it’s interior with
the priest or a volunteer from Ag Nikolaos Rangavas – tel: 210 322 8193, or politely
try Kyria Maro at number 9, opposite its north wall.
This church
is dedicated to St. John the Divine of Patmos, the author of Revelations. It
is small distyle cross-in-square church with an Athenian dome, and one of the
few Byzantine churches that has managed to keep its walls intact, - the
exterior is all original - easy to see too because the north wall is on a tiny
Plaka laneway.
The bottom
part of this wall consists of red tile enclosed rounded stones with some very
well placed larger white slabs. Above that is the cloisonné masonry that we
have come to expect in churches of this era.
The windows
of the dome have an attractive double row of bricks. Note the severe style of
the rounded marble around the doorway, a nice counterpoint to the more elaborate
arch of bricks above, a motif that is repeated over the north window (see above picture) as well.
There is a
small narthex. The two columns inside are of Roman in origin.
Restoration
is in progress, albeit slowly, and some of the original frescoes are being restored
after having been covered up by coats of paint. They are 13th
century, later than the church but that was not uncommon, - first the building,
then the decoration whenever painting teams came available. The ones you can
see are original. Experts call them a provincial style, but I rather like the
St George who is riding into eternity on the arch of the prosthesis of the
sanctuary (north side). We know it is St George because he always rides a white
horse (St Demitrios’ is red).
Not my best effort!
This church
may even have been dedicated to St George for a time. It was not uncommon for
churches to have changed their patron saints over time. Apparently St. George,
St. Nicholas, and the Panagia (Mary) were saints popular in the Islamic world
and, during the Ottoman occupation, many churches rededicated to these saints
because the church was more likely to be left intact. It didn’t always work.
The church
has a small narthex and a rather horrible wooden iconostasis, while it performs
its function well enough, is slated to be replaced by a new marble one in the
style of the era, incorporating bits of the original that were lying in pieces
in the church.
No one
really knows the history of this church. That it was built after 1081 is
certain because of a coin found imbedded in the roof, but it does have one
claim to fame during Greece’s struggle for freedom. The Italian Morosini was in
Athens in 1697 leading an all out attempt (which failed) to storm the Acropolis
and wrest it from the Turks. (1) He used the small courtyard of this church to
place the cannon that blew a good deal of Parthenon to smithereens – not so
surprising because his view of the acropolis would have been completely
blocked. He was shooting blind.
(1) The
historian K Zisios is my source
I read that Morosini had pulled his artillery up Philipappus Hill from which the Parthenon is visible even now on Google maps. I wonder whether he might have used both locations, spotting for the closer but otherwise blind churchyard artillery and establishing a means of communication to put their shots on target.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the date I most see for the destruction of the Parthenon by Morosini is 9/26/1687. Any thoughts?