Chouliarás, Ioannis P. The Catholicon of the Monastery of Agios Panteleimonon the Island of Ioannina, Greece - Studia Slavica Et Balcanica Petropolitana

For citation: Chouliarás, Ioannis P. The Catholicon of the Monastery of Agios Panteleimon on the Island of Ioannina, Greece, in Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana. 2020. № 2. Pp. 125-140. DOI https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu19.2020.208

Title of the article	The Catholicon of the Monastery of Agios Panteleimon on the Island of Ioannina, Greece
Authors	Chouliarás, Ioannis P. — PhD, Director, Ephorate of Antiquities of Thesprotia, Ministry of Culture and Sports, Greece, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
In the section	Commentarii / Articles
Year	2020	Issue	2	Pages	125-140
Type of article	RAR	Index UDK; BBK		Index DOI	10.21638/spbu19.2020.208
Abstract	The monastery is located at the SE end of the settlement of the Island and became widely known in modern history, as Ali Pasha was assassinated in its cells in 1822. The catholicon today is a three-aisled basilica with a quadruple roof and in its present size was probably built at late 17th or early 18th century. The aisles are separated by wooden colonnades. The W and N walls, probably most of the E, were rebuilt after their destruction in the early 19th century by falling rocks. In the E there is a semicircular arch. The original church was supposed to be a small one-aisled with a semicircular arch, traces of which were discovered on the SE side of the modern church.The monastery is located at the SE end of the settlement of the Island and became widely known in modern history, as Ali Pasha was assassinated in its cells in 1822. The catholicon today is a three-aisled basilica with a quadruple roof and in its present size was probably built at late 17th or early 18th century. The aisles are separated by wooden colonnades. The W and N walls, probably most of the E, were rebuilt after their destruction in the early 19th century by falling rocks. In the E there is a semicircular arch. The original church was supposed to be a small one-aisled with a semicircular arch, traces of which were discovered on the SE side of the modern church.From the early building phase the modern church has incorporated part of the S wall, which dates to the early 15th century. On the W side was added a late 19th-century loggia, which is roofed with a sloping roof lower than that of the church and possibly replaced an older one. The column of the loggia comes from an earlier building phase of the church. On the W side is raised a rectangular narthex, possibly of the same date as the loggia, which is roofed with a quadruple roof. The present entrance door to the main church is located at the W end of the S wall, while the original door was opened in the middle of the same wall and has been walled today. There is a small conch above the walled door.The church is built of stone with irregularly placed stones. More elaborate construction on the arch with carved stones in the pseudo-isodomic system. On the S wall between the stones are inserted bricks. Brick arched frame is formed above the walled gate. The fresco decoration of the catholicon is confined to the outer front of the S wall and the lower parts of the main church. It is of particular importance, as we distinguish five post-Byzantine phases, the first of which at the end of the 15th century. The first is located in the E part of the outer front of the S wall. The rest continue to the W on the outer front of the same wall and on the lower parts inside the main church.In the initial phase of the frescoes belong the Deisis with the Christ and the Virgin, as well as the frontal St. Nicholas, behind the Virgin. The upper parts of the scene have been repainted. The next phase, which can be dated to the 16th century, involves the half-bodied Christ above the conch of the S wall, who blesses with open arms and two full-length archangels on either side of the conch, who have also been repainted. In the third phase of the painting belongs the enthroned Virgin holding the Child amid two angels, pictured behind her massive wooden throne. The composition is to the right of the entrance door to the church. This layer is precisely dated by a dedicatory inscription bearing the date ZΡKϚ (= 1617/18). The penultimate phase is found only in the interior of the catholicon, in the lower parts of the sanctuary, and on the N and S walls of the main church, where a decorative zone is distinguished. The feet of at least two saints are visible on the N wall, another figure of saint next to the iconostasis on the S wall and to the right of the doorway to the church the lower part of the body of a frontal archangel, who steps on a cloud. Above the door there should have been the inscription, mentioned by Aravantinos, but not preserved today, and bearing the date ΑΨΖ (= 1707). During the late 19th century, the outer conch of the S wall was painted with St. Panteleimon, who is depicted half-bodied and holding a vessel and a scalpel.The building phases of the catholicon and the multiple layers of its decoration make it one of the most important monuments of the Ioannina area, as it locates the oldest known frescoes on the Island and throughout the Ioannina basin. At the same time, after reading of one of the dedicatory inscriptions, it was possible to distinguish more clearly the painting layers and to make more effective use of the older reading, by Aravantinos, of the inscription in the interior of the catholicon.
Keywords	Monastery of Agios Panteleimon, the Island of Ioannina, Ioannina, post-Byzantine painting, Xenos Digenis, Nektarios and Theophanis Apsarades, art, cultural studies
	Full text version of the article.			Article language	English
Bibliography	Acheimastou-Potamianou, Myrtalē. Ē monē tōn Philanthrōpēnōn kai ē prōtē phasē tēs metabyzantinēs zōgraphikēs. Athens: Adam Publ., 1983. 286 p. (in Greek). Acheimastou-Potamianou, Myrtalē. Eikones tēs Zakynthou [Icons of Zakynthos]. Athens: Iera Mētropolis Zakynthou kai Strophadōn Publ., 1997. 290 p. (in Greek). Acheimastou-Potamianou, Myrtalē. Eikones tōn Iōanninōn [Icons of Ioannina], in Phēgos. Timētikos tomos gia ton kathēgētē Sōtērē Dakarē. Ioannina: Panepistēmio Iōanninōn Publ., 1994. Pp. 21–30. (in Greek). Acheimastou-Potamianou, Myrtalē. Agios Geōrgios stēn Katō Lapsista Iōanninōn. Paratērēseis stis toichographies tou etous 1508, in Katsaros, Basilis; Tourta, Anastasia (eds). Aphierōma ston Akadēmaiko Panagiōtē L. Vokotopoulo. Athens: Ekdoseis Kapon Publ., 2015. Pp. 481–490. (in Greek). Affreschi e icone dalla Grecia (X–XVII secolo) [Frescoes and icons from Greece (10^th–17^th centuries)]. Athens: Museo bizantino di Atene Publ., 1986. 159 p. (in Italian). Agoritsas, Dēmētrios. Bios kai Politeia tōn osiōn Nektariou kai Theophanous tōn Apsaradōn [Life and activities of saints Nektarios and Theophanes Apsarades]. Agia Meteora: Iera monē Barlaam Publ., 2018. 382 p. (in Greek). Agrevi, Maria. The Wall Paintings of Xenos Digenis in the Katholikon of the Myrtia Monastery of Aetolia (1491). The Influence of Cretan Painting on the Work of a Peloponnesian Painter. Leipzig: Eudora-Verlag Publ., 2010. 352 p. Aravantinos, Panagiōtēs. Perigraphē tēs Ēpeirou, eis merē tria [Description of Epirus in three parts]. Ioannina: Etaireia Ēpeirōtikōn Meletōn Publ., 1984. 997 p. (in Greek). Aravantinos, Panagiōtēs. Istoria Alē Pasa tou Tepelenlē [History of Ali Pasha Tepelenli]. Athens: Typographeio S. Kousoulinou Publ., 1895. 613 p. (in Greek). Athēnagoras, Mētropolitēs Paramythias kai Pargas. Neos Koubaras, in Ēpeirōtika Chronika. 1929. Vol. 4. Pp. 1–54. (in Greek). Byzantinē kai Metabyzantinē Technē [Byzantine and Postbyzantine art]. Athens: Tameio Archaiologikōn Porōn Publ., 1986. 265 p. (in Greek). Chatzidakis, Manolis; Drakopoulou, Eugenia. Ellēnes zōgraphoi meta tēn Alōsē (1450–1830) [Greek painters after the Fall of Constantinople (1450–1830)]. T. 2. Athens: Kentro Neoellēnikōn Ereunōn Publ., 1997. 474 p. (in Greek). Chatzidakis, Manolis; Sofianos, Dimitrios. The Great Meteoron ― History and Art. Athens: Interamerican Publ., 1990. 222 p. Chouliaras, Iōannēs. Toichographēmena mnēmeia kai zōgraphoi tou 15ou kai 16ou aiōna stēn Ēpeiro kai tē Notia Albania [Fresco ensembles and painters of the 15^th and 16^th centuries in Epirus and South Apbania], in Dōdōnē. 2007–2008. Vol. 36–37. Pp. 295–332. (in Greek). Chouliaras, Iōannēs. Ē metabyzantinē mnēmeiakē zōgraphikē sto lekanopedio tōn Iōanninōn (16os–17os ai.), in Papageōrgiou, Georgios; Petsios, Konstantinos Th. (eds). Praktika A Panēpeirōtikou Synedriou «Istoria — Logiosynē: Ē Ēpeiros kai ta Iōannina apo to 1430 eōs to 1913», Iōannina, Pemptē 28 Fevrouariou – Kyriakē 3 Martiou 2013. Vol. 2. Ioannina: Panepistēmio Iōanninōn Publ., 2015. Pp. 1139–1148. (in Greek). Constantinides, Efthalia. The Wall Paintings of the Panagia Olympiotissa at Elasson in Northern Thessaly. Vol. I. Athens: Canadian Archaeological Institute at Athens Press, 1992. 401 p. Dakarēs, Sōtērēs. To Nēsi tōn Iōanninōn. Istoria, mnēmeia, mouseio [The Island of Ioannina. History, monuments, museum]. Athens: Tolidēs Publ., 1982. 85 p. (in Greek). Gabelić, Smiljka. Manastir Lesnovo, Istorija i slikarstvo [Lesnovo Monastery, History and Painting]. Belgrade: Stubovi kulture Publ., 1998. 305 p. (in Serbian). Hadermann-Misguich, Lydie. Kurbinovo, Les fresques de Saint-Georges et la peinture byzantine du XII^e siècle [Kurbinovo, the frescoes of St. George and the 12^th century Byzantine painting]. Brussels: Editions de Byzantion Publ., 1975. 606 p. (in French). Kalousios, Dēmētrios. Ta cheirographa tēs Bylizas: Iera Monē tou Euangelismou tēs Theotokou sto Matsouki Iōanninōn [The manuscripts of Bylizas: The Holy monastery of Annunciation of Mother of God at Matsouki Ioanninon]. Matsouki Ioanninon: Monastēriakē Epitropē Ieras Monēs Bylizas Publ., 2009. 334 p. (in Greek). Kamaroulias, Dēmētrios. Ta Monastēria tēs Ēpeirou [Monasteries of Epirus]. Vol. 1. Athens: Mpastas – Plessas Publ., 1996. 665 p. (in Greek). Kephallōnitou, Phrankiska. Ē Monē Agiou Panteleēmonos [Monastery of Saint Panteleimon], in Garidēs, Miltos; Paliouras, Athanasios (eds). Monastēria Nēsou Iōanninōn. Zōgraphikē [Monasteries of the Island of Ioannina]. Ioannina: Mētropolē Iōannēnōn Publ., 1993. P. 313. (in Greek). Koulidas, Kōnstantinos. Ta Giannina pou ephygan (Synoikies — Topōnymia — Ieroi Naoi — Monastēria) [The Bygone Ianinna. Neighborhoods — Toponyms — Churches — Monasteries]. Ioannina: Idiōtikē ekdosē Publ., 2010. 440 p. (in Greek). Lampros, Spyridōn. Symbolai eis tēn istorian tōn monōn tōn Meteōrōn [Contribution to the history of Meteora Monasteries], in Neos Ellēnomnēmōn. 1905. Vol. 2 (A). Pp. 49–156. (in Greek). Lozanova, Ralitsa. The Church of Christ Zoodotes in Emborion (Albania), in L’Image et la Parole, Εικόνα και Λόγος. Recueil à l’occasion du 60e anniversaire du prof. Axinia Džurova. Sofia: Sofia University Press, 2004. Pp. 151–162. Mertzios, Kōnstantinos. To en Benetia Ēpeirōtikon Archeion [The Epirote Archive in Venice], in Ēpeirōtika Chronika. 1936. Vol. 11. Pp. 1–352. (in Greek). Millet, Gabriel; Frolow, Anatole. La peinture du Moyen-âge en Yougoslavie (Serbie, Macédoine et Montenegro) [Medieval painting in Yugoslavia (Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro)]. Vol. II. Paris: E. de Boccard Publ., 1957. 13 p., 103 pl.; Vol. III. Paris: E. de Boccard Publ., 1962. 24 p., 64 pl. (in French). Mylōna, Zōē. Mouseio Zakynthou [Zakynthos Museum]. Athens: Ypourgeio Politismou kai Tourismou Publ., 2010. 507 p. (in Greek). Oikonomou, Phōtios. Ē Ekklēsia tēs Ēpeirou, idrysis, organōsis kai exelixēs autēs [Church of Epirus. Foundation, organization and development]. Athens: Idiōtikē ekdosē Publ., 1982. 328 p. (in Greek). Paisidou, Melachroinē. Ē Panagia Eleousa tēs Megalēs Prespas [Panagia Eleusa of the Great Prespa]. Thessaloniki: Etaireia Makedonikōn Spoudōn Publ., 2019. 238 p. (in Greek). Paliouras, Athanasios. Byzantinē Aitōloakarnania, symbolē stē byzantinē kai metabyzantinē mnēmeiakē technē [Byzantine Aitoloakarnania. Contribution to its Byzantine and Postbyzantine monumental art]. Agrinio: Iphitos Publ., 2004. 450 p. (in Greek). Papadopoulou, Varvara N. (ed.). Mnēmeia tōn Iōanninōn. Polē, Nēsi, Lekanopedio [Monuments of Ioannina. The City, the Island, the Basin]. Ioannina: Ypourgeio Politismou Publ., 2009. 196 p. (in Greek). Papadopoulou, Varvara. Ta monastēria tou Nēsiou tōn Iōanninōn. Istoria ― architektonikē ― zōgraphikē [Monasteries of the Ioannina Island. History ― architecture ― painting]. Ioannina: Iera monē Eleousēs Nēsou Publ., 2004. 107 p. (in Greek). Papageōrgiou, Giōrgos. Oi syntechnies sta Giannena kata ton 19o kai tis arches tou 20ou aiōna [The Guilds in Ioannina in the 19^th and the early 20^th century]. Ioannina: Panepistēmio Iōanninōn Publ., 1988. 368 p. (in Greek). Papageōrgiou, Giōrgos. Oi syntechnies ton Ioanninon kai ta Monastēria tou Nēsiou, in Monastēria Nēsou Iōanninōn, in Garidēs, Miltos; Paliouras, Athanasios (eds). Praktika Symposiou: 700 chronia 1292–1992 (29–31 Maiou 1992). Ioannina: Panepistēmio Iōanninōn Publ., 1999. Pp. 535–546. (in Greek). Petković, Sreten. Zidno slikarstvo na području Pećke Patrijaršije 1557–1614 [Wall Painting on the Area of Patriarchate of Peć 1557–1614]. Novi Sad: Matica srpska Publ., 1965. 361 p. (in Serbian). Radujko M. Fresco Program around the «King’s» Throne, in Mural Painting of Monastery of Dečani. Material and Studies. Ed. by Vojislav J. Djurić. Beograd, 1995. P. 304–305. Sarros, Dēmētrios. Ēpeirōtikai enthymēseis ē chronika sēmeiōmata kai epigraphai [Epirote memorial and chronographic notes and inscriptions], in Ēpeirōtika Chronika. 1937. Vol. 12. Pp. 104–132. (in Greek). Skeuophylakio Monēs Eleousas sto Nēsi tōn Iōanninōn. Oi phorētes eikones [Sacristy of Eleusa Monastery on Ioannina Island. The Icons]. Ioannina: Ypourgeio politismou kai athlētismou, Ephoreia archaiotētōn Iōanninōn Publ., 2017. 141 p. (in Greek). Tourta, Anastasia. Monē Prodromou Nēsou Iōanninōn. Oi Apsarades kai ta idrymata tous [The Apsarades and their foundations], in Garidēs, Miltos; Paliouras, Athanasios (eds). Monastēria Nēsou Iōanninōn, Praktika Symposiou: 700 chronia 1292–1992 (29–31 Maiou 1992). Ioannina: Panepistēmio Iōanninōn Publ., 1999. Pp. 343–355. (in Greek). Trifonova A. Οι τοιχογραφίες του Αγίου Γεωργίου του Bουνού στην Καστοριά. Συμβολή στη μελέτη της ζωγραφικής του δεύτερου μισού του 14ου αιώνα στην ευρύτερη περιοχή της Μακεδονίας (Ph.D. Diss.). Θεσσαλονίκη, 2010. Εικ. 252. Tsaparlēs, Eustratios. Xyloglypta templa Ēpeirou 17ou – a’ ēmiseos 18ou ai.: prostypa xyloglypta [Wooden templa of Epirus from the 17^th – first half of the 18^th centuries: relief wood carving]. Athens: Panepistēmio Athēnōn Publ., 1980. 182 p. (in Greek). Tsigaridas, Euthymios. Kastoria, kentro zōgraphikēs tēn epochē tōn Palaiologōn (1360–1450) [Kastoria, the painting center of Palaiologan period (1360–1450)]. Thessaloniki: Etaireia Makedonikōn Spoudōn Publ., 2016. 631 p. (in Greek). Vokotopoulos, Panagiōtēs. O Xenos Digenēs stēn Ēpeiro [Xenos Digenēs in Epirus], in Deltion tēs Christianikēs Archaiologikēs Etaireias. 2014. Vol. 35. Pp. 143–182. (in Greek). Vranousēs, Leandros; Sphyroeras, Vasileios. Dēmographikes exelixeis. Oi Ēpeirōtes tēs diasporas [Demographic developments. Epirotes of the diaspora], in Sakellariou, M. (ed.). Ēpeiros. 4000 chronia ellēnikēs istorias kai politismou [Epirus. 4000 years of Greek history and culture]. Athens: Ekdotikē Athēnōn Publ., 1997. Pp. 257–264. (in Greek).

Tags: COMMENTARII / ARTICLES, Balkans, cultural studies, Art, architecture, Greece, painting, CHOULIARAS I.