Papers by Nikoletta Pyrrou
Acta Terrae Septemcastrensis …, 2006
... România) Thomas NÄGLER (Universitatea Lucian Blaga din Sibiu, România) Secretaries: Ioan Ma... more ... România) Thomas NÄGLER (Universitatea Lucian Blaga din Sibiu, România) Secretaries: Ioan Marian ŢIPLIC (Universitatea Lucian Blaga din Sibiu, România) Silviu Istrate PURECE (Universitatea Lucian Blaga din Sibiu, România) ... Elena Fialko, Scythian material culture ...
Venetian and Ottoman censuses place the small settlement of Agios Konstantinos at a short distanc... more Venetian and Ottoman censuses place the small settlement of Agios Konstantinos at a short distance from the southern coast of Rethymno, near Drymiskos. The only testimony to this settlement today is the homonymous chapel, altered through later repairs and interventions.
In its formerly painted interior only a few scenes survive: the Pantocrator and concelebrating hierarchs in the apse, frontally facing hierarchs and deacons on the north wall of the sanctuary. In the nave fragments are preserved from the representations of the Betrayal and the Threnos, as well as the equestrian Saints George and Constantine. Impressive is the composition of the Tree of Jesse in the west end of the north wall, as well as that of the Last Judgment, which fills the entire west wall of the church.
The inclusion of Saint Constantine on horseback and of the Tree of Jesse in the iconographic program, two exceptionally rare themes, filled, furthermore, with particular political and religious symbolism, is indicative of the active intervention and the increased demands of an educated donor, perhaps a priest, who is addressing equally learned and talented artists.
The great similarity, both iconographically and stylistically, between the decoration of the church at Drymiskos and a group of painted ensembles, which are tied together through a common workshop, compensates for its fragmentary state of preservation. A date at the beginning of the 15th century can be proposed for the church with near certainty since, it should be attributed to the artists who worked on a series of other monuments in the greater region of Rethymno: Saint John the Forerunner at Margarites, Saint John at Selli (1411), Panagia at the site of Leivada at Fourfoura and Saint George in the same settlement (1411), Saint Foteini in the region of Preveli, the narthex of Saint Paraskevi at Melambes, and Zoodochos Pege at Diblochori (1417).
The survey of the route of these itinerant painters, as well as their inclusion in a broader artistic trend, comprises a small contribution to the study of the way artistic workshops were organized and worked in Venetian-held Crete.
Σε μικρή απόσταση από τις νότιες ακτές του Ρεθύμνου, κοντά στη Δρύμισκο, οι βενετσιάνικες και οι οθωμανικές απογραφές τοποθετούν το μικρό οικισμό του Αγίου Κωνσταντίνου. Από τον οικισμό αυτό μόνος μάρτυρας μένει σήμερα ο ομώνυμος ναΐσκος, αλλοιωμένος από μεταγενέστερες επισκευές και επεμβάσεις.
Στο άλλοτε κατάγραφο εσωτερικό του σώζονται λίγες μόνο σκηνές : ο Παντοκράτορας και οι συλλειτουργούντες ιεράρχες στην αψίδα, μετωπικοί ιεράρχες και διάκονοι στο βόρειο τοίχο του ιερού. Στον κυρίως ναό διατηρούνται σπαράγματα από τις παραστάσεις της Προδοσίας και του Επιτάφιου Θρήνου, καθώς και οι έφιπποι άγιοι Γεώργιος και Κωνσταντίνος. Εντυπωσιακή είναι η σύνθεση της Ρίζας Ιεσσαί, στο δυτικό άκρο του βόρειου τοίχου, καθώς και της Δευτέρας Παρουσίας, που καταλαμβάνει ολόκληρο το δυτικό τοίχο του ναού.
Η συμπερίληψη στο εικονογραφικό πρόγραμμα του έφιππου Αγίου Κωνσταντίνου και της Ρίζας Ιεσσαί, δύο θεμάτων σπάνιων και επιπροσθέτως φορτισμένων με ιδιαίτερους πολιτικούς και θρησκευτικούς συμβολισμούς, δηλώνει τις αυξημένες απαιτήσεις ενός λόγιου δωρητή, πιθανώς ιερέα, που απευθύνθηκε σε εξίσου πεπαιδευμένους και ικανούς καλλιτέχνες.
Η μεγάλη ομοιότητα, σε εικονογραφικό και τεχνοτροπικό επίπεδο, του διακόσμου του ναού της Δρυμίσκου με μια ομάδα τοιχογραφικών συνόλων που συνδέονται με δεσμούς κοινού εργαστηρίου, αντισταθμίζει την αποσπασματικότητα της διατήρησής του. Με αρκετή βεβαιότητα μπορεί να προταθεί για το ναό μια χρονολόγηση στις αρχές του 15ου αιώνα, καθώς θα πρέπει να αποδοθεί στους καλλιτέχνες που εργάστηκαν και σε μια σειρά άλλων μνημείων στην ευρύτερη περιοχή του Ρεθύμνου : τον Άγιο Ιωάννη Πρόδρομο στις Μαργαρίτες, τον Άγιο Ιωάννη στο Σελλί (1411), την Παναγία στη θέση Λειβάδα του Φουρφουρά και τον Άγιο Γεώργιο στον ίδιο οικισμό (1411), την Αγία Φωτεινή στην περιοχή του Πρέβελη, το νάρθηκα της Αγίας Παρασκευής στις Μέλαμπες, τη Ζωοδόχο Πηγή στο Ντιμπλοχώρι (1417).
Η χαρτογράφηση της πορείας των περιπλανώμενων αυτών ζωγράφων, καθώς και η ένταξή τους σε ένα ευρύτερο καλλιτεχνικό ρεύμα, αποτελεί μια μικρή συμβολή στη μελέτη του τρόπου οργάνωσης και εργασίας των καλλιτεχνικών εργαστηρίων στη βενετοκρατούμενη Κρήτη.
The representations of a certain St. Romanos, protetor and healer of horses, have been of great i... more The representations of a certain St. Romanos, protetor and healer of horses, have been of great interest to researchers in recent years. The earliest examples known in scholarship came from the region of the Peloponnese and the Northern Balkans, from wall painted ensembles dated to the middle of the 13th century. In there Romanos appears as a young man with black hair and a short beard. In some cases he holds surgical tools and the inscription ο επί την σκλέπαν or επί την σκλέπαν των αλόγων accompanies him – a reference to an equine epidemic disease, which he is believed to have fought against. This iconographical type of Romanos, accompanied by the inscription την σκλέπαν ιόμενος is found in the church of St. Nicholas in Moni, Selino, a work attributed to the painter Theodoros Daniel Veneris, and is dated to the late 13th century. The characteristics of the saint are slightly different in representations found in three Cretan monuments of the 14th and 15th centuries. These are the churches of St. John in Anogeia, Mylopotamos, St. John in Kritsa, Merabello and St. George in Apano Symi, Viannos. Here Romanos appears more mature in age, while holding scissors, hammers, drills and hooks among other tools.
To these bust representation of Romanos from Crete should be added four more, which are particularly interesting due to their narrative character.
The oldest is found in the church of St. Nicholas in Elenes, Amari, and is dated to the late 13th century. The fragmentsof the interior of a building are evident, within which a man leads a horse to a haloed figure. The inscription reads O ΑΓΙOC ΡΟΥΜΑΝΟC / HOMENOC THC / ΚΛΕΩΠΑΝ.
In the church of St. Marina in Chalepa, Mylopotamos, a very fragmented representation of a figure survives, who is making an incision in the chest of a horse with a medical tool. Despite the lack of an inscription, he can be identified as Romanos during a procedure that corresponds with those described in the Hippiatrica texts, for the treatment of horse diseases.
In the church of the Virgin at Meronas, Amaei, Romanos the Sklepodioktis, as the inscription reads, is depicted with a horse in a blacksmith’s workshop.
A similar, though more iconographically developed representation is that from the exonarthex of the monastery of St. Phanourios in Valsamonero, Herakleion. The detailed examination of the iconography of the scene shows that the artist used an episode from the popular western St. Eloi de Noyon as a model, which he closely copied. The development of the iconography of Romanos, with the combination of his attributes as healer saint and blacksmith, is evident only in Crete for now. Their discovery in monuments associated with great feudal families of the island, as well as the special emphasis given to the figure of a saint protector of horses, reflects the economic and social conditions of the period and attests to the continuous dialogue with the western world.
The small church of Aghios Nicholaos lies in a picturesque slope near the village of Meronas at A... more The small church of Aghios Nicholaos lies in a picturesque slope near the village of Meronas at Amari Province, Rethymno. It belongs to a simple-nave, barrel vaulted architectural plan, and during the 1990’s it underwent restoration works carried out by the Archaeological Service.
The wall paintings at the interior are fragmentarily preserved, and are confined at the area of the bema. On the half-dome of the apse is depicted the Deësis, with Virgin Mary and St.John the Forerunner flanking the robust figure of Christ. On the half-cylinder of the apse, four co-officiating bishops, Sts Athanasios, John Chrysostom, Basil and Gregory the Theologian, are placed around the Melismos. At the summit of the eastern wall lies the Mandylion, right below it the Annunciation divided in two panels, and at the lowest part, the deacons Sts Stephen and Romanos. The Ascension occupies, as usual, the barrel vault of the bema, and projects to the upper part of the lateral walls. On the same walls, a narrow frieze with busts of medical (S wall) and female saints (N wall) in medallions, are placed above the frontally standing bishops. The preserved decoration is completed at the intrados of the eastern reinforcing arch, with the figures of two prophets on either side of a medallion depicting Christ in the type of Ancient of Days, a rare representation in Crete. The most interesting part of the iconographic program is the emphasis given to the figure of Christ, the five representations of which, in different age stages, (Melismos, Deësis, Mandylion, Ascension, Ancient of Days), are placed on a vertical axis in the church. Similar solutions appear from the middle-byzantine period, as an answer to dogmatic disputes concerning the homoousion of the Holy Trinity.
In terms of style, the wall paintings present an exrremely eclectic character, bearing close affinities to romanesque and early gothic works of art (“rolling eyes”, red-colored hair, flat modeling of the flesh based on yellow ochre, etc), along with influence from cappadocian frescoes (red trees with white dots on the branches, red discs containing white rosettes in the mandorla of the Ascension). Based on the comparison with other securely dated examples from Crete (Aghios Georgios in Vathi (Kouneni), 1284. Aghios Georgios in Sklavopoula, 1291. Agios Demetrios in Leivadas, 1315/6 and Saviour in Temenia.) and the rest of Greece, for the examined frescoes seems plausible a date around 1300.
The church of Aghios Georgios is situated in the village of Melissourgaki (Mylopotamos district, ... more The church of Aghios Georgios is situated in the village of Melissourgaki (Mylopotamos district, Rethymno). The region was included in the feud of the local noble family Callergis. The building is a single-nave barrel-vaulted church, with two strainers. Its external views (doorways, windows, western façade, belfry) reflect a major reform done in 1902, with the addition of a narthex to the original plan. The whitewashed mural decoration was revealed from the Archaeological Service during the 1970’s, while a conservation project, carried out by the 28th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, was completed in 2007.
The iconographic program is partially preserved. On the half-dome of the apse dominates the Pantocrator from a Deesis scene, and the half-cylinder is adorned with the Melismos. The barrel-vault of the sanctuary is covered with the Ascension, while on the lateral walls are depicted frontal figures of hierarchs and deacons, and four scenes : Jesus Appears to the Holy Women (Chairete) and the Vision of Saint Peter of Alexandria (south wall), the Empty Sepulcher and the Sacrifice of Abraham (north wall). On the south wall of the naos can be discerned fragments of the Nativity, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, the Parable of the Ten Virgins and scenes from the Last Judgement’s composition. On the northern wall are preserved the following : Betrayal of Judas, Helkomenos, choirs of saints from the Last Judgement, Crucifixion, Descent to Hades and fragments from the Incredulity of Thomas. On the third zone of both lateral walls were depicted scenes from the synaxarium of Saint George, while most of the standing figures of the fourth zone were destroyed due to the opening of two large windows.
The high quality and the style of the paintings classifies them amongst the best examples of a trend traced in the late 14th - and early 15th century Crete. N.Drandakis was the first to link this trend with the idealistic Constantinopolitan art of the early 14th century, while M.Borboudakis developed a theory about an artistic atelier, trained from Constantinopolitan artists, and hired by the Callergis family. The wall-paintings in Melissourgaki, compared to dated monuments, and mostly with Aghios Georgios in Artos (1401), could be placed in the last decade of the 14th century.
Built on the side of a small river near the village of Veran Episkopi, the church of Agios Demetr... more Built on the side of a small river near the village of Veran Episkopi, the church of Agios Demetrios is one of the most ambiguous, yet interesting monuments of the region. It has the plan of a three-aisle basilica, with a small domed annex to the south. The irregular plan of the building is due to the numerous additions, while more than 4 building phases can be discerned. The cloisonné masonry and the brick-work, as well as the blind arches in the interior, date the core of the building to the middle byzantine era, while the gothic door-frame is a terminus for its transformation to a church, possibly in the 15th century A.D. The excavation and the restoration works currently carried out by the 28th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, revealed elements (cisterns, tubuli incorporated in the wall, a small construction made of hydraulic mortar, round openings perforating the roof, etc.) that are usually used in bathhouses. This paper is the first attempt for the evaluation of the findings and a speculation about the successive building phases.
Acta Terrae Septemcastrensis …, Jan 1, 2006
The church of Aghios Demetrios in the settlement of the same name, near Pigi, is a cross-in-squa... more The church of Aghios Demetrios in the settlement of the same name, near Pigi, is a cross-in-square domed church, one of the rare examples of this type in the region of Rethymno. The church was probably built in the 1st half of the 11th century, while certain morphological elements, such as the decorative articulation of the façades, the use of the recessed brick technique, the incisions on the plaster coating imitating opus pseudo-isodomum, indicate the influence of the Constantinopolitan architecture. The suggestions for the date of the few frescoes that survive, mainly in the sanctuary, vary from the 11th to the 14th centuries, due to their fragmentary preservation.
Extended restoration works were carried out by the Archaeological Service in the 1970s. The restoration was completed in 2013, with funding from the Regional Operational Programme of Crete and the Aegean Islands 2007 -2013 (NSRF). The excavation at the interior of the church brought to light the bases of the four columns, the stylobate of the altar screen, three consecutive floors, as well as nine cist graves. The finds (coins, jewellery, ceramic sherds) confirm the continuous use of the church from the byzantine to the modern times.
Conference Organization by Nikoletta Pyrrou
The workshop "Μετακινήσεις αντικειμένων, διάδοση πρακτικών μέσα από τη μελέτη των εντοιχισμένων α... more The workshop "Μετακινήσεις αντικειμένων, διάδοση πρακτικών μέσα από τη μελέτη των εντοιχισμένων αγγείων σε εκκλησίες της βενετοκρατούμενης Κρήτης / Movements of objects, dissemination of practices through the study of the immured vessels in churches of Venetian Crete", which will take place during the 12th International Congress of Cretan Studies, will present the first results from Crete of the research programme "Εντοιχισμένα αγγεία σε βυζαντινούς και μεταβυζαντινούς ναούς της Ελλάδας / Immured vessels in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine churches of Greece”, undertaken with the collaboration of the local Ephorates of Antiquities. For more details on the congress: https://www.12-iccs.gr/index.php/12ICCS/ICCS2016 For the abstracts: https://www.12-iccs.gr/_files/conferences/1/programme/12ICCS_Program.pdf
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Papers by Nikoletta Pyrrou
In its formerly painted interior only a few scenes survive: the Pantocrator and concelebrating hierarchs in the apse, frontally facing hierarchs and deacons on the north wall of the sanctuary. In the nave fragments are preserved from the representations of the Betrayal and the Threnos, as well as the equestrian Saints George and Constantine. Impressive is the composition of the Tree of Jesse in the west end of the north wall, as well as that of the Last Judgment, which fills the entire west wall of the church.
The inclusion of Saint Constantine on horseback and of the Tree of Jesse in the iconographic program, two exceptionally rare themes, filled, furthermore, with particular political and religious symbolism, is indicative of the active intervention and the increased demands of an educated donor, perhaps a priest, who is addressing equally learned and talented artists.
The great similarity, both iconographically and stylistically, between the decoration of the church at Drymiskos and a group of painted ensembles, which are tied together through a common workshop, compensates for its fragmentary state of preservation. A date at the beginning of the 15th century can be proposed for the church with near certainty since, it should be attributed to the artists who worked on a series of other monuments in the greater region of Rethymno: Saint John the Forerunner at Margarites, Saint John at Selli (1411), Panagia at the site of Leivada at Fourfoura and Saint George in the same settlement (1411), Saint Foteini in the region of Preveli, the narthex of Saint Paraskevi at Melambes, and Zoodochos Pege at Diblochori (1417).
The survey of the route of these itinerant painters, as well as their inclusion in a broader artistic trend, comprises a small contribution to the study of the way artistic workshops were organized and worked in Venetian-held Crete.
Σε μικρή απόσταση από τις νότιες ακτές του Ρεθύμνου, κοντά στη Δρύμισκο, οι βενετσιάνικες και οι οθωμανικές απογραφές τοποθετούν το μικρό οικισμό του Αγίου Κωνσταντίνου. Από τον οικισμό αυτό μόνος μάρτυρας μένει σήμερα ο ομώνυμος ναΐσκος, αλλοιωμένος από μεταγενέστερες επισκευές και επεμβάσεις.
Στο άλλοτε κατάγραφο εσωτερικό του σώζονται λίγες μόνο σκηνές : ο Παντοκράτορας και οι συλλειτουργούντες ιεράρχες στην αψίδα, μετωπικοί ιεράρχες και διάκονοι στο βόρειο τοίχο του ιερού. Στον κυρίως ναό διατηρούνται σπαράγματα από τις παραστάσεις της Προδοσίας και του Επιτάφιου Θρήνου, καθώς και οι έφιπποι άγιοι Γεώργιος και Κωνσταντίνος. Εντυπωσιακή είναι η σύνθεση της Ρίζας Ιεσσαί, στο δυτικό άκρο του βόρειου τοίχου, καθώς και της Δευτέρας Παρουσίας, που καταλαμβάνει ολόκληρο το δυτικό τοίχο του ναού.
Η συμπερίληψη στο εικονογραφικό πρόγραμμα του έφιππου Αγίου Κωνσταντίνου και της Ρίζας Ιεσσαί, δύο θεμάτων σπάνιων και επιπροσθέτως φορτισμένων με ιδιαίτερους πολιτικούς και θρησκευτικούς συμβολισμούς, δηλώνει τις αυξημένες απαιτήσεις ενός λόγιου δωρητή, πιθανώς ιερέα, που απευθύνθηκε σε εξίσου πεπαιδευμένους και ικανούς καλλιτέχνες.
Η μεγάλη ομοιότητα, σε εικονογραφικό και τεχνοτροπικό επίπεδο, του διακόσμου του ναού της Δρυμίσκου με μια ομάδα τοιχογραφικών συνόλων που συνδέονται με δεσμούς κοινού εργαστηρίου, αντισταθμίζει την αποσπασματικότητα της διατήρησής του. Με αρκετή βεβαιότητα μπορεί να προταθεί για το ναό μια χρονολόγηση στις αρχές του 15ου αιώνα, καθώς θα πρέπει να αποδοθεί στους καλλιτέχνες που εργάστηκαν και σε μια σειρά άλλων μνημείων στην ευρύτερη περιοχή του Ρεθύμνου : τον Άγιο Ιωάννη Πρόδρομο στις Μαργαρίτες, τον Άγιο Ιωάννη στο Σελλί (1411), την Παναγία στη θέση Λειβάδα του Φουρφουρά και τον Άγιο Γεώργιο στον ίδιο οικισμό (1411), την Αγία Φωτεινή στην περιοχή του Πρέβελη, το νάρθηκα της Αγίας Παρασκευής στις Μέλαμπες, τη Ζωοδόχο Πηγή στο Ντιμπλοχώρι (1417).
Η χαρτογράφηση της πορείας των περιπλανώμενων αυτών ζωγράφων, καθώς και η ένταξή τους σε ένα ευρύτερο καλλιτεχνικό ρεύμα, αποτελεί μια μικρή συμβολή στη μελέτη του τρόπου οργάνωσης και εργασίας των καλλιτεχνικών εργαστηρίων στη βενετοκρατούμενη Κρήτη.
To these bust representation of Romanos from Crete should be added four more, which are particularly interesting due to their narrative character.
The oldest is found in the church of St. Nicholas in Elenes, Amari, and is dated to the late 13th century. The fragmentsof the interior of a building are evident, within which a man leads a horse to a haloed figure. The inscription reads O ΑΓΙOC ΡΟΥΜΑΝΟC / HOMENOC THC / ΚΛΕΩΠΑΝ.
In the church of St. Marina in Chalepa, Mylopotamos, a very fragmented representation of a figure survives, who is making an incision in the chest of a horse with a medical tool. Despite the lack of an inscription, he can be identified as Romanos during a procedure that corresponds with those described in the Hippiatrica texts, for the treatment of horse diseases.
In the church of the Virgin at Meronas, Amaei, Romanos the Sklepodioktis, as the inscription reads, is depicted with a horse in a blacksmith’s workshop.
A similar, though more iconographically developed representation is that from the exonarthex of the monastery of St. Phanourios in Valsamonero, Herakleion. The detailed examination of the iconography of the scene shows that the artist used an episode from the popular western St. Eloi de Noyon as a model, which he closely copied. The development of the iconography of Romanos, with the combination of his attributes as healer saint and blacksmith, is evident only in Crete for now. Their discovery in monuments associated with great feudal families of the island, as well as the special emphasis given to the figure of a saint protector of horses, reflects the economic and social conditions of the period and attests to the continuous dialogue with the western world.
The wall paintings at the interior are fragmentarily preserved, and are confined at the area of the bema. On the half-dome of the apse is depicted the Deësis, with Virgin Mary and St.John the Forerunner flanking the robust figure of Christ. On the half-cylinder of the apse, four co-officiating bishops, Sts Athanasios, John Chrysostom, Basil and Gregory the Theologian, are placed around the Melismos. At the summit of the eastern wall lies the Mandylion, right below it the Annunciation divided in two panels, and at the lowest part, the deacons Sts Stephen and Romanos. The Ascension occupies, as usual, the barrel vault of the bema, and projects to the upper part of the lateral walls. On the same walls, a narrow frieze with busts of medical (S wall) and female saints (N wall) in medallions, are placed above the frontally standing bishops. The preserved decoration is completed at the intrados of the eastern reinforcing arch, with the figures of two prophets on either side of a medallion depicting Christ in the type of Ancient of Days, a rare representation in Crete. The most interesting part of the iconographic program is the emphasis given to the figure of Christ, the five representations of which, in different age stages, (Melismos, Deësis, Mandylion, Ascension, Ancient of Days), are placed on a vertical axis in the church. Similar solutions appear from the middle-byzantine period, as an answer to dogmatic disputes concerning the homoousion of the Holy Trinity.
In terms of style, the wall paintings present an exrremely eclectic character, bearing close affinities to romanesque and early gothic works of art (“rolling eyes”, red-colored hair, flat modeling of the flesh based on yellow ochre, etc), along with influence from cappadocian frescoes (red trees with white dots on the branches, red discs containing white rosettes in the mandorla of the Ascension). Based on the comparison with other securely dated examples from Crete (Aghios Georgios in Vathi (Kouneni), 1284. Aghios Georgios in Sklavopoula, 1291. Agios Demetrios in Leivadas, 1315/6 and Saviour in Temenia.) and the rest of Greece, for the examined frescoes seems plausible a date around 1300.
The iconographic program is partially preserved. On the half-dome of the apse dominates the Pantocrator from a Deesis scene, and the half-cylinder is adorned with the Melismos. The barrel-vault of the sanctuary is covered with the Ascension, while on the lateral walls are depicted frontal figures of hierarchs and deacons, and four scenes : Jesus Appears to the Holy Women (Chairete) and the Vision of Saint Peter of Alexandria (south wall), the Empty Sepulcher and the Sacrifice of Abraham (north wall). On the south wall of the naos can be discerned fragments of the Nativity, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, the Parable of the Ten Virgins and scenes from the Last Judgement’s composition. On the northern wall are preserved the following : Betrayal of Judas, Helkomenos, choirs of saints from the Last Judgement, Crucifixion, Descent to Hades and fragments from the Incredulity of Thomas. On the third zone of both lateral walls were depicted scenes from the synaxarium of Saint George, while most of the standing figures of the fourth zone were destroyed due to the opening of two large windows.
The high quality and the style of the paintings classifies them amongst the best examples of a trend traced in the late 14th - and early 15th century Crete. N.Drandakis was the first to link this trend with the idealistic Constantinopolitan art of the early 14th century, while M.Borboudakis developed a theory about an artistic atelier, trained from Constantinopolitan artists, and hired by the Callergis family. The wall-paintings in Melissourgaki, compared to dated monuments, and mostly with Aghios Georgios in Artos (1401), could be placed in the last decade of the 14th century.
Extended restoration works were carried out by the Archaeological Service in the 1970s. The restoration was completed in 2013, with funding from the Regional Operational Programme of Crete and the Aegean Islands 2007 -2013 (NSRF). The excavation at the interior of the church brought to light the bases of the four columns, the stylobate of the altar screen, three consecutive floors, as well as nine cist graves. The finds (coins, jewellery, ceramic sherds) confirm the continuous use of the church from the byzantine to the modern times.
Conference Organization by Nikoletta Pyrrou
In its formerly painted interior only a few scenes survive: the Pantocrator and concelebrating hierarchs in the apse, frontally facing hierarchs and deacons on the north wall of the sanctuary. In the nave fragments are preserved from the representations of the Betrayal and the Threnos, as well as the equestrian Saints George and Constantine. Impressive is the composition of the Tree of Jesse in the west end of the north wall, as well as that of the Last Judgment, which fills the entire west wall of the church.
The inclusion of Saint Constantine on horseback and of the Tree of Jesse in the iconographic program, two exceptionally rare themes, filled, furthermore, with particular political and religious symbolism, is indicative of the active intervention and the increased demands of an educated donor, perhaps a priest, who is addressing equally learned and talented artists.
The great similarity, both iconographically and stylistically, between the decoration of the church at Drymiskos and a group of painted ensembles, which are tied together through a common workshop, compensates for its fragmentary state of preservation. A date at the beginning of the 15th century can be proposed for the church with near certainty since, it should be attributed to the artists who worked on a series of other monuments in the greater region of Rethymno: Saint John the Forerunner at Margarites, Saint John at Selli (1411), Panagia at the site of Leivada at Fourfoura and Saint George in the same settlement (1411), Saint Foteini in the region of Preveli, the narthex of Saint Paraskevi at Melambes, and Zoodochos Pege at Diblochori (1417).
The survey of the route of these itinerant painters, as well as their inclusion in a broader artistic trend, comprises a small contribution to the study of the way artistic workshops were organized and worked in Venetian-held Crete.
Σε μικρή απόσταση από τις νότιες ακτές του Ρεθύμνου, κοντά στη Δρύμισκο, οι βενετσιάνικες και οι οθωμανικές απογραφές τοποθετούν το μικρό οικισμό του Αγίου Κωνσταντίνου. Από τον οικισμό αυτό μόνος μάρτυρας μένει σήμερα ο ομώνυμος ναΐσκος, αλλοιωμένος από μεταγενέστερες επισκευές και επεμβάσεις.
Στο άλλοτε κατάγραφο εσωτερικό του σώζονται λίγες μόνο σκηνές : ο Παντοκράτορας και οι συλλειτουργούντες ιεράρχες στην αψίδα, μετωπικοί ιεράρχες και διάκονοι στο βόρειο τοίχο του ιερού. Στον κυρίως ναό διατηρούνται σπαράγματα από τις παραστάσεις της Προδοσίας και του Επιτάφιου Θρήνου, καθώς και οι έφιπποι άγιοι Γεώργιος και Κωνσταντίνος. Εντυπωσιακή είναι η σύνθεση της Ρίζας Ιεσσαί, στο δυτικό άκρο του βόρειου τοίχου, καθώς και της Δευτέρας Παρουσίας, που καταλαμβάνει ολόκληρο το δυτικό τοίχο του ναού.
Η συμπερίληψη στο εικονογραφικό πρόγραμμα του έφιππου Αγίου Κωνσταντίνου και της Ρίζας Ιεσσαί, δύο θεμάτων σπάνιων και επιπροσθέτως φορτισμένων με ιδιαίτερους πολιτικούς και θρησκευτικούς συμβολισμούς, δηλώνει τις αυξημένες απαιτήσεις ενός λόγιου δωρητή, πιθανώς ιερέα, που απευθύνθηκε σε εξίσου πεπαιδευμένους και ικανούς καλλιτέχνες.
Η μεγάλη ομοιότητα, σε εικονογραφικό και τεχνοτροπικό επίπεδο, του διακόσμου του ναού της Δρυμίσκου με μια ομάδα τοιχογραφικών συνόλων που συνδέονται με δεσμούς κοινού εργαστηρίου, αντισταθμίζει την αποσπασματικότητα της διατήρησής του. Με αρκετή βεβαιότητα μπορεί να προταθεί για το ναό μια χρονολόγηση στις αρχές του 15ου αιώνα, καθώς θα πρέπει να αποδοθεί στους καλλιτέχνες που εργάστηκαν και σε μια σειρά άλλων μνημείων στην ευρύτερη περιοχή του Ρεθύμνου : τον Άγιο Ιωάννη Πρόδρομο στις Μαργαρίτες, τον Άγιο Ιωάννη στο Σελλί (1411), την Παναγία στη θέση Λειβάδα του Φουρφουρά και τον Άγιο Γεώργιο στον ίδιο οικισμό (1411), την Αγία Φωτεινή στην περιοχή του Πρέβελη, το νάρθηκα της Αγίας Παρασκευής στις Μέλαμπες, τη Ζωοδόχο Πηγή στο Ντιμπλοχώρι (1417).
Η χαρτογράφηση της πορείας των περιπλανώμενων αυτών ζωγράφων, καθώς και η ένταξή τους σε ένα ευρύτερο καλλιτεχνικό ρεύμα, αποτελεί μια μικρή συμβολή στη μελέτη του τρόπου οργάνωσης και εργασίας των καλλιτεχνικών εργαστηρίων στη βενετοκρατούμενη Κρήτη.
To these bust representation of Romanos from Crete should be added four more, which are particularly interesting due to their narrative character.
The oldest is found in the church of St. Nicholas in Elenes, Amari, and is dated to the late 13th century. The fragmentsof the interior of a building are evident, within which a man leads a horse to a haloed figure. The inscription reads O ΑΓΙOC ΡΟΥΜΑΝΟC / HOMENOC THC / ΚΛΕΩΠΑΝ.
In the church of St. Marina in Chalepa, Mylopotamos, a very fragmented representation of a figure survives, who is making an incision in the chest of a horse with a medical tool. Despite the lack of an inscription, he can be identified as Romanos during a procedure that corresponds with those described in the Hippiatrica texts, for the treatment of horse diseases.
In the church of the Virgin at Meronas, Amaei, Romanos the Sklepodioktis, as the inscription reads, is depicted with a horse in a blacksmith’s workshop.
A similar, though more iconographically developed representation is that from the exonarthex of the monastery of St. Phanourios in Valsamonero, Herakleion. The detailed examination of the iconography of the scene shows that the artist used an episode from the popular western St. Eloi de Noyon as a model, which he closely copied. The development of the iconography of Romanos, with the combination of his attributes as healer saint and blacksmith, is evident only in Crete for now. Their discovery in monuments associated with great feudal families of the island, as well as the special emphasis given to the figure of a saint protector of horses, reflects the economic and social conditions of the period and attests to the continuous dialogue with the western world.
The wall paintings at the interior are fragmentarily preserved, and are confined at the area of the bema. On the half-dome of the apse is depicted the Deësis, with Virgin Mary and St.John the Forerunner flanking the robust figure of Christ. On the half-cylinder of the apse, four co-officiating bishops, Sts Athanasios, John Chrysostom, Basil and Gregory the Theologian, are placed around the Melismos. At the summit of the eastern wall lies the Mandylion, right below it the Annunciation divided in two panels, and at the lowest part, the deacons Sts Stephen and Romanos. The Ascension occupies, as usual, the barrel vault of the bema, and projects to the upper part of the lateral walls. On the same walls, a narrow frieze with busts of medical (S wall) and female saints (N wall) in medallions, are placed above the frontally standing bishops. The preserved decoration is completed at the intrados of the eastern reinforcing arch, with the figures of two prophets on either side of a medallion depicting Christ in the type of Ancient of Days, a rare representation in Crete. The most interesting part of the iconographic program is the emphasis given to the figure of Christ, the five representations of which, in different age stages, (Melismos, Deësis, Mandylion, Ascension, Ancient of Days), are placed on a vertical axis in the church. Similar solutions appear from the middle-byzantine period, as an answer to dogmatic disputes concerning the homoousion of the Holy Trinity.
In terms of style, the wall paintings present an exrremely eclectic character, bearing close affinities to romanesque and early gothic works of art (“rolling eyes”, red-colored hair, flat modeling of the flesh based on yellow ochre, etc), along with influence from cappadocian frescoes (red trees with white dots on the branches, red discs containing white rosettes in the mandorla of the Ascension). Based on the comparison with other securely dated examples from Crete (Aghios Georgios in Vathi (Kouneni), 1284. Aghios Georgios in Sklavopoula, 1291. Agios Demetrios in Leivadas, 1315/6 and Saviour in Temenia.) and the rest of Greece, for the examined frescoes seems plausible a date around 1300.
The iconographic program is partially preserved. On the half-dome of the apse dominates the Pantocrator from a Deesis scene, and the half-cylinder is adorned with the Melismos. The barrel-vault of the sanctuary is covered with the Ascension, while on the lateral walls are depicted frontal figures of hierarchs and deacons, and four scenes : Jesus Appears to the Holy Women (Chairete) and the Vision of Saint Peter of Alexandria (south wall), the Empty Sepulcher and the Sacrifice of Abraham (north wall). On the south wall of the naos can be discerned fragments of the Nativity, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, the Parable of the Ten Virgins and scenes from the Last Judgement’s composition. On the northern wall are preserved the following : Betrayal of Judas, Helkomenos, choirs of saints from the Last Judgement, Crucifixion, Descent to Hades and fragments from the Incredulity of Thomas. On the third zone of both lateral walls were depicted scenes from the synaxarium of Saint George, while most of the standing figures of the fourth zone were destroyed due to the opening of two large windows.
The high quality and the style of the paintings classifies them amongst the best examples of a trend traced in the late 14th - and early 15th century Crete. N.Drandakis was the first to link this trend with the idealistic Constantinopolitan art of the early 14th century, while M.Borboudakis developed a theory about an artistic atelier, trained from Constantinopolitan artists, and hired by the Callergis family. The wall-paintings in Melissourgaki, compared to dated monuments, and mostly with Aghios Georgios in Artos (1401), could be placed in the last decade of the 14th century.
Extended restoration works were carried out by the Archaeological Service in the 1970s. The restoration was completed in 2013, with funding from the Regional Operational Programme of Crete and the Aegean Islands 2007 -2013 (NSRF). The excavation at the interior of the church brought to light the bases of the four columns, the stylobate of the altar screen, three consecutive floors, as well as nine cist graves. The finds (coins, jewellery, ceramic sherds) confirm the continuous use of the church from the byzantine to the modern times.