W.040 Kaisariani Monastery

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Creator

Denis Baly

Creation Year

January 1960

Image ID

W.040

Alternate Identifier

B22.040

Subcollection

W: Attica, Crete, Santorini

Abstract

The mesmerizing frescoes of the Kaisariani Monastery, which date to the 18th century. The central figure is Christ Pantokrator, a common motif decorating the central domes of Orthodox Churches. -MA

Description

The following is the entry on the monastery in the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium: "(Καισαριανή), monastery on Mt. Hymettos near Athens. In antiquity probably a sanctuary of Aphrodite, the site was converted to Christian use in the 5th or 6th C. The monastery must date to ca.1100, when the surviving church was built; it is mentioned in the correspondence of Pope Innocent III (T. Neroutsos, DIEE 3 [1889] 103–05) but apparently remained in Greek hands after the Fourth Crusade since in 1210 Michael Choniates addressed a letter to its Orthodox hegoumenos (Mich.Akom. 2:311). The katholikon is a cross-in-square with half-hexagonal apses; south of the church is a bath, apparently contemporary with the katholikon but later turned into an oil press. The narthex and frescoes in the katholikon, along with the other buildings of the monastery, are post-Byzantine. To the west are the remains of a large early Christian basilica with semicircular apses, over which a smaller domed church was built, apparently in the 10th–11th C. To the south of this are the ruins of a single-aisled church, probably built during the Frankish period."

References

Gregory, Timothy E. "Kaisariane." In The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. : Oxford University Press, 1991. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001/acref-9780195046526-e-2705

Image Notes

Creation date unknown. Photograph processed August 1960. Formerly catalogued as B22.040. Notes written on the slide or index: Hymettus.

Curator Notes

Compare with other Christ Pantokrator paintings at Daphne (W.032), Meteora (DK.064,DK.113), and Hosios Loukas (DM.045)

Image Format

35 mm slide

Geographic Reference

Mt Hymettus, Greece