Zavorina, Maria Leonidovna. Façade Decoration of Palaiologan Churches in Thessaloniki: Specificity and Evolution of the Local Approach

Published Date:

For citation: Zavorina, Maria Leonidovna. Façade Decoration of Palaiologan Churches in Thessaloniki: Specificity and Evolution of the Local Approach, in Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana. 2020. № 2. Pp. 73-88. DOI https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu19.2020.205

Title of the article Façade Decoration of Palaiologan Churches in Thessaloniki: Specificity and Evolution of the Local Approach
Authors

Zavorina, Maria Leonidovna — researcher, The Research Institute of Theory and History of Architecture and Urban Planning, Moscow, Russia, OrcID 0000-0003-1652-1006, ResearcherID AAE-3360-2020, SPIN-код 8372-5464, AuthorID 983807; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In the section  Commentarii / Atricles
Year 2020 Issue Pages 73-88 
Type of article RAR Index UDK UDK 7.033.2…7;
BBK 85.113(3)
Index DOI 10.21638/spbu19.2020.205 
Abstract The research was support by Russian Science Foundation, project No. 20-18-00294 (Artistic Traditions, Church and State Ideology in Medieval Art and Architecture of the Balkans: The Macedonian Issue).
The article is devoted to the peculiarities of the Palaeologan architecture of Thessaloniki. Based on the analysis of approaches to the facades organization, iconographic and compositional features of the facade decor, an attempt is made to clarify the local specifics of the Thessalonikan architecture and establish the patterns of its development. Among the main features that form the architectural identity of Thessaloniki are: a combination of metropolitan and provincial traditions, rethinking and combining retrospective elements in line with current stylistic trends, rooted in the traditions of Byzantine architecture and rejection of Western European stylistic elements. In its development, Thessalonikan architecture went through two stages, each of which is marked by an appeal to the traditions of previous periods. The first stage (late 13th – first third of the 14th century) is characterized by intensive development of the local variant of the Palaeologan style based on combination of the traditions of Constantinople, Epirus, Nicea, Northern and Southern Greece. These searches are carried out on the basis of the same architectural type and show three different approaches to the organization of facades in a combination of metropolitan and provincial stylistic paradigms (vertical and horizontal systems of articulation, architectural decor and retrospective vocabulary of ceramoplastic decorative elements). The monuments of the second stage (1350s – 1378) are marked by typological variety and show a tendency to reproduce and interpret local architectural models from the first third of the 14th century. The dynamics of the development of Thessalonican architecture does not allow to characterize this center as conservative, and the retrospectiveness of the Palaeologan architecture of Thessaloniki seems to be a creative method of local masters rather than a qualitative characteristic of their works.
Keywords Byzantine architecture, Palaeologan Age, Thessaloniki, façade decoration, medieval studies 
Full text version of the article. Article language  Russian
Bibliography

Bogdanović, Jelena. Regional Developments in Late Byzantine Architecture and the Question of ‘Building Schools’: An Overlooked Case of the Fourteenth-Century Churches from the Region of Skopje, in Byzantinoslavica. 2011. Vol. 69/1–2. Pp. 219–266.

Brunov, Nikolay Ivanovich. Arkhitektura Vizantii [Byzantine Architecture], in Vseobshchaya istoriya arkhitektury [Universal History of Architecture]: In 12 vols. Vol. 3: Arkhitektura Vostochnoy Evropy. Srednie veka. Leningrad; Moscow: Literature on Construction Publ., 1966. Pp. 16–161. (in Russian).

Čurčić, Slobodan. Architecture in the Balkans from Diocletian to Süleyman the Magnificent. New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2010. 913 р.

Čurčić, Slobodan. Articulation of Church Facades During the First Half of the Fourteenth Century, in Petković, Sreten (ed.). Vizantijska umetnost početkom XIV veka [Byzantine Art at the beginning of the 14th century]. Belgrade, 1978. Pp. 17–27.

Čurčić, Slobodan. Epirote Input in Architecture of Byzantine Macedonia and Serbia around 1300, in Katsaros, Basilis; Tourta, Anastasia (eds). Afieroma ston akadimaiko Panagioti L. Bokotopoulo [Collection of Articles in Honor of Academician Panayotis L. Vocotopoulos]. Athens: Ekdoseis Kapon Publ., 2015. Pp. 129–140.

Čurčić, Slobodan. The Role of Late Byzantine Thessaloniki in Church Architecture in the Balkans, in Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 2003. Vol. 57. Pp. 65–84.

Hadjitryphonos, Evangelia. Saint Catherine’s Church in Thessaloniki, Its Place in Late Byzantine Architecture, in Iros Ktistis. Mnimi Charalamboy Boura [Hero Mason. Memory of Charalambos Boyras]. Vol. 1. Athens, 2018. Pp. 265–282.

Kalopissi-Verti, Sophia; Panayotidi-Kesisoglou, Maria (eds). Polyglosso lexico oron Byzantinis arhitektonikis kai glyptikis [Multilingual Illustrated Dictionary of Byzantine Terms of Architecture and Sculpture]. Heraklion: Crete University Press, 2010. 667 p.

Kappas, Mikhalis. Arkhitekturniy «idiolekt» Fessaloniki v sredne- i pozdnevizantiyskiy periody: skhodstva i razlichiya s Konstantinopolem [The Architectural Idiom of Thessaloniki during the Middle and Late Byzantine Periods: Similarities and Differences from Constantinople], in Vizantiy i Vizantiya: provintsializm stolitsy i stolichnost provintsii [Byzantion and Byzantium: The provincialism of the center and the centrality of the provinces]. St. Petersburg: Aletheia Publ., 2020. Pp. 127–153. (in Russian).

Kondakov, Nikodim Pavlovich. Makedoniya. Arkheologicheskoe puteshestvie [Macedonia: Archeological Jorney]. St. Petersburg: Department of Russian Language and Literature of the Imperial Academy of Sciences Publ., 1909. 348 p. (in Russian).

Korac, Vojislav; Suput, Marica. Arhitektura vizantijskog sveta [Architecture of Byzantine World]. Belgrade: Zavod za udžbenike i nastavna sredstva Publ., 2005. 425 p. (in Serbian).

Krautheimer, Richard. Early Christian and Byzantine architecture. 4th ed. (revised by R. Krauthheimer and S. Ćurčić). New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1986. 390 р.

Maltseva, Svetlana Vladislavovna. Khramovoe zodchestvo Moravskoy Serbii i osnovnye napravleniya arkhitektury paleologovskogo perioda [Churches of Moravian Serbia and the Main Directions of the Palaeologan Architecture], in Maltseva, Svetlana Vladislavovna; Stanyukovich-Denisova, Ekaterina Yuryevna; Zakharova, Anna Vladimirovna (eds). Aktual’nye problemy teorii i istorii iskusstva: Sb. nauch. statey [Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art: Collection of articles]. Issue 7. St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State University Press, 2017. Pp. 301–320, 757–759. (in Russian).

Maltseva, Svetlana Vladislavovna. Osobennosti khrama Proroka Ilii v Salonikakh i problema regionalnykh napravleniy v pozdnevizantiyskoy arkhitekture [The Special Features of the Church of Prophet Elijah in Thessaloniki: The Problem of Regional Traits in the Late Byzantine Architecture], in Zakharova, Anna Vladimirovna; Ovcharova, Olga Vladimirovna; Oretskaya, Irina Anatolyevna (eds). Iskusstvo vizantiyskogo mira. Individual’nost’ v khudozhestvennom tvorchestve. Sbornik statey v chest’ O. S. Popovoy [Art of the Byzantine World. Individuality of Artistic Creativity. In honor of Olga Popova. Collection of articles]. Moscow: The State Institute for Art Studies Press, 2020. Pp. 233–247. (in Russian).

Mango, Сyril. Byzantine Architecture. New York: Electa Editrice Publ., 1976. 215 p.

Millet, Gabriel. L’École grecque dans l’architecture byzantine [The Greek School in Byzantine Architecture]. Paris: E. Leroux Publ., 1916. 372 р. (in French).

Milyukov, Pavel Nikolaevich. Khristianskie drevnosti Zapadnoy Makedonii [Christian Values of Western Masedonia], in Izvestiya Russkogo arkheologicheskogo instituta v Konstantinopole [News of the Russian Archeological Institute in Constantinople]. 1899. IV. Issue 1. Pp. 21–151. (in Russian).

Nikonanos, Nikos. The Church of the Holy Apostles in Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki: Institute for Balkan Studies Press, 1986. 72 р.

Ousterhout, Robert. Eastern Medieval Architecture. The Building Traditions of Byzantium and Neighboring Lands. London: Oxford University Press, 2019. 810 р.

Papadopoulou, Varvara. I vyzantini Arta kai ta mnimeia tis [Byzantine Arta and Its Monuments]. Athens: Ministry of Culture Publ., 2002. 168 p. (in Greek).

Papazotos, Thanasis. I moni Akapniou — O naos toy profiti Ilia [The Akapniou Monastery — The Church of Prophet Elias], in Thessalonikeon polis. 1997. Vol. 2. Pp. 34–73. (in Greek).

Papazotos, Thanasis. The Identification of the Church of ‘Profitis Elias’ in Thessaloniki, in Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 1991. Vol. 45. Pp. 120–127.

Rautman, Marcus L. The Church of the Holy Apostles in Thessaloniki. Dissertation: Ph. D. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1984. 254 р.

Stoyoglou, Georgios. I en Thessaloniki Patriarhiki Moni ton Blatadon [The Patriarchal Monastery of the Vlatades]. Thessaloniki: Patriarchal Institute of Patriarchal Studies Press, 1971. 406 p. (in Greek).

Tantsis, Anastasios. O Profitis Hlias, i Anna tis Savoias kai i Auli toy Syrgi [The Prophet Elias, Anna of Savoy and the Court of Syrgi], in Byzantina. 2013–2014. Vol. 33. Pp. 241–257. (in Greek).

Theoharidis, Giorgos. O Mathaios Vlastaris kai i moni tou Kyr Isaak en Thessaloniki [Matthew Vlastaris and the Monastery of Kyr Isaak in Thessaloniki], in Byzantion. 1970. Vol. XL. Pp. 454–459. (in Greek).

Trkulja, Jelena. Aesthetics and Symbolism of Late Byzantine Church Façades, 1204–1453. Princеton: Princeton University Press, 2004. 378 р.

Tsouris, Konstantinos. O keramoplastikos diakosmos ton isterobyzantinon mnimeion tis Voreiodytikis Ellados [The Ceramic Decoration of the Late Byzantine Monuments of Northwestern Greece]. Kavala, 1988. 467 p. (in Greek).

Velenis, Giorgos. Oi Agioi Apostoloi Thessalonikis kai i skholi tis Konstantinoypolis [Holy Apostles in Thessaloniki and Constantinopolitan School], in Akten des XVI Internationalen Byzantinisten Kongresses. Jahrbruch der Österreichishen Byzantinistik. 1981. Vol. 32/4. Pp. 457–467. (in Greek).

Velenis, Giorgos. Ermineia toy exoterikoy diakosmoy stin byzantini arhitektoniki [Interpretation of Exterior Decoration in Byzantine Architecture]. Thessaloniki, 1984. 355 p. (in Greek).

Velenis, Giorgos. Building Techniques and External Decoration During the 14th Century in Macedonia, in Samardžić, R. (ed.). L’Art de Thessalonique et des pays balquaniques et les courants spirituals au XIVe siècle. Belgrade, 1987. Pp. 95–105. (in Greek).

Velenis, Giorgos. Thirteenth-Century Architecture in the Despotate of Epirus: The Origins of the School, in Studenica et l’art byzantine au tour de l’annee 1200. Belgrade, 1988. Pp. 279–284.

Vocotopoulos, Panayotis. Church Architecture in Thessaloniki in the 14th century. Remarks on the Typology, in Samardžić, R. (ed.). L’Art de Thessalonique et des pays balquaniques et les courants spirituals au XIVe siècle. Belgrade, 1987. Pp. 107–117.

Vocotopoulos, Panayotis. Church Architecture in the Despotate of Epirus. The Problem of Influences, in Zograf. 1998–1999. No. 27. Pp. 79–92.

Xyngopoulos, Andreas. Neotera eurimata eis ton naon ton Taxiarkhon Thessalonikis [Newer finds in the Church of the Taxiarches in Thessaloniki], in Makedonika. 1956. Vol. 3. Pp. 281–289. (in Greek).

Xyngopoulos, Andreas. Tessares mikroi naoi tis Thessalonikis ek ton khronon ton Palaiologon [Four Small Churches of Thessaloniki of the Palaeologan Period]. Thessaloniki: Society for Macedonian Studies Publ., 1952. 109 p. (in Greek).

 

Tags: medieval studies, Byzantium, COMMENTARII / ARTICLES, Balkans, Macedonia, Art, ZAVORINA M. L., Greece

  • Hits: 720