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

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