Agios Ioannis Theologos (St John the Divine) in Stylos
Church of Agios Nikolaos (St Nicholas) in Kyriakoselia
Early Christian basilica at Almyrida
Monastery of Panagia (the Virgin Mary) in Karydi
Church of Agios Nikolaos (St Nicholas) in Maza
Church of Panagia (the Virgin Mary) in Alikambos
Agios Georgios (St George) in Kournas
The Route of Byzantine Art
The island of Crete is a rich gallery of Byzantine art dating from the mid-5th century AD onwards. Representative examples of the styles of each period, reflecting the artistic trends of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, are scattered around the countryside. The monuments that have come down to our day are a random sample, as earthquakes, other natural disasters and the human factor have caused great losses to the island’s wealth of monuments. It is telling that no paintings adorning monuments of the Byzantine period have survived from the most important city of the island, Chandax (Heraklion). Thus the evidence from the Cretan countryside is very informative, providing as it does a broad outline of the social, economic and artistic environment of Byzantine Crete. The region of Apokoronas was a particularly important one from as early as prehistoric times due to its proximity to the port of Suda, its hilly terrain forming natural strongholds, its fertile hinterland and its springs.
An important group of artworks of the Early Christian period is preserved in the Apokoronas region: the floor mosaics of the Early Christian basilica of Almyrida.
Byzantine Art in the basilica in Almyrida
The sanctuary, the central aisle and the exonarthex are laid with mosaic floors featuring a rich variety of geometric and floral patterns. The floors are divided into panels decorated with fish, crosses, intersecting circles and semicircles, peacock feathers and whorls, intersecting and interlinking geometric shapes connected by knots, rosettes and crosses, crescent-shaped designs in a cruciform arrangement, etc. Interlocking roundels surround the panel frames. A gemmed cross stands out, its upper end curving into a capital letter P, illustrating the Chi-Rho Christogram, while from the arms of the cross are suspended the letters testifying to the Revelation, A and Ω (Alpha and Omega).
The mosaic floors are of excellent quality and are associated with the workshops of Athens and Argos.
The important mosaic and sculptural decoration of this large church is evidence of a thriving community in the seaside location of Almyrida. Notable Byzantine paintings of the 12th century and the early Venetian period (13th-14th c.) are also preserved in Apokoronas. By this time, the iconographic programme of the churches was firmly established. The Byzantine church was now a complex work expressing the religious cosmology of the inhabitants of the Eastern Roman Empire, while its design followed the intricacies of the divine liturgy. It was a complex multisensory project, appealing to all the senses of the faithful: vision, through the sacramental diffusion of light from the few openings of the church and the vigil lamps hanging in front of certain icons, illuminating specific sacred figures; touch, by touching the images on the lower walls; hearing, the space with its elaborate curves acting as an amplifier for the psalms of the service, chanted in the resonant timbres of Eastern Mediterranean music; smell, with the incense that burns during the service, imbuing the stone walls of the church with its fragrance; and taste, when the faithful eat of the body and blood of Christ as they take communion.
Light plays a central role both in the religious cosmology of the Eastern Romans and in church design. The dome, which is pierced with the most light-holes, symbolises the heavens. Light is diffused from the dome to the lower parts of the church. It is therefore no coincidence that the fresco decoration of the domes portrays Christ Pantocrator, the Light of the World, with angels and prophets. The Virgin Mary is also often depicted on the dome. Architecture and painting reflect the Byzantine worldview: hierarchy, the cyclical nature of time, established principles that must remain immutable.
In the next-highest point of the church, the apse, is the Virgin and Child. The Queen Mother is also flanked by the guardians of the court hierarchy, the two archangels. For medieval man, the sanctuary apse symbolises the ladder that unites heaven and earth. The person who connects the visible and the invisible world is none other than the woman who carried in her womb the God-man, the Container of the Uncontainable, the Panagia.
In the sanctuary are placed the scenes depicting the Divine Liturgy: the Communion of the Apostles, at the moment when Christ distributes his body and blood to them. The lower walls are adorned with the most important hierarchs as they are officiating, a depiction of the perpetual divine liturgy. The major hierarchs are present at every physical divine liturgy and co-officiate with the priest, connecting the events with cyclical, repeated time without end.
On the upper walls of the church is displayed the cycle of the Life of Christ. The narrative follows the order of the gospels and the natural course of human life. Birth, baptism, achievements in life, death, resurrection as a promise of salvation. Human time is also the time of the natural world. Birth, flowering, fruiting, withering, rebirth.
In the middle fresco zone are placed scenes of the life of the saint to whom the church is dedicated. These depict the hero’s particular ethos, the attributes found in those who walk in the path of sanctity. Special powers from childhood, temperance and an inclination towards the justice of God, miracle-working, unwavering faith leading to personal martyrdom, physical death and subsequent canonisation.
On the lower walls are individual figures of saints. The saints are depicted life-size, at the eye level of the faithful, so they can look the latter in the face. However, the saints’ gaze is not directed at any single individual, but at all. These are people who have distinguished themselves by their moral virtue and faith, an example to every believer. Yet their function does not end there. The saints are present, listening to people’s prayers, ready to fulfil the requests of the faithful, who are constantly asking for favours in return for various pledges. These figures reflect the theory of Orthodox icons: the saints have specific characteristics and their form does not change, because they depict real people who are believed to be physically present. The home of each saint is every church and every image of that saint, which is why they can hear the prayers of the faithful. Every image has a material substance, drawn not from the object itself, the paint and plaster, but from the presence of the holy person. Another element of the medieval Eastern Roman worldview becomes apparent: the distinction of body and soul.
These complex iconographic programmes also reflect contemporary perceptions at different times and places, while the historical context in which they are set makes each church a work with its own particular history.
Two of the most important groups of paintings found in the lands where Byzantine painting flourished (the Balkans, Asia Minor, what is now Greece, Southern Italy), dating from what is known as the Middle Byzantine period (10th c. – 1252), before the beginning of the Italian Renaissance, are preserved in the Apokoronas region. The first is found in the church of St George in Kournas, where four layers of frescoes survive.
Byzantine Art in Agios Georgios in Kournas
Of particular importance is the first layer of frescoes in the central sanctuary apse, dating from the late 12th century. The figures are in the Komnenian tradition, but there is an evident tendency to increase their volume compared to the works of the previous period. The movement towards increasingly naturalistic portrayal, moving away from the pursuit of transcendence through the depiction of figures of hieratic solemnity in the art of the Eastern Roman Empire, is one of the characteristic precursory trends that would eventually lead to the Italian Renaissance.
From the layer of the early 13th century, the Communion of the Apostles (photo) stands out. Christ gives Peter the leavened bread of Orthodox communion and Paul the wine, symbols of his body and blood, as the inscriptions tell us.
The church paintings are associated with the noble Melissinos family. The family belonged to the aristocracy of Constantinople, with powerful branches, mainly in Asia Minor. The Melissinoi, as wealthy patrons, were able to hire important painters to paint the frescoes in their churches. In Kournas, the painters of the first and second layers must have come from Constantinople to work in the service of the wealthy aristocrats.
The paintings of the church form a prestigious body of work that highlights the social status of its patrons within the community.
The second, equally important group of frescoes is found in the church of St Nicholas in Kyriakoselia.
Byzantine Art in St Nicholas in Kyriakoselia
Most of the fresco decoration has survived, making this one of the most fully preserved iconographic programmes on the island.
The scene of the Ascension that adorns the eastern barrel vault stands out vividly. It is a multi-figured scene, with the figures comfortably arranged in space, their intense movements indicated by their flowing garments. The otherworldly environment of the theophany, the manifestation of the divine, is indicated by the movement of the olive trees, shaken as if by a windstorm, and by the strongly twisted postures of the figures, reflecting their inner turmoil. The figures are turned towards the ascending Christ, who is illuminated within a mandorla borne by angels.
Another figure that stands out is that of Nicholas the Studite, who is depicted on the west face of the northeast pier of the dome. Nicholas was the abbot of the historic Stoudion Monastery in Constantinople during the Iconoclasm. A fanatical iconolater, he fought for the veneration of religious images. Nicholas, originally from neighbouring Kydonia (Chania), lived during the period of the Arab conquest of Crete. The inclusion of his figure at a time when the local community had risen up against the Venetian newcomers is a telling reference to the struggles of prominent ecclesiastical figures from Crete in support of the Orthodox doctrine and the Orthodox Church, which was then being persecuted by the Catholic Church.
Two scenes are also distinguished by their rarity. They are those of the School of Christ, depicted in the second fresco zone above the north window of the church. The young Christ is being dragged towards the enthroned teacher by his mother. Interestingly, the inscription reads: “Go, thou who hast made heaven and earth, to the teacher.” The paradoxical inscription and the unusual portrayal, almost a caricature, of the rebellious young Christ lend a humorous note to the scene. The boldness of the scene, its humorous elements and its content, effectively exalting teaching above even the Creator of heaven and earth, capture the ideology of the upper class and reveal the air of renewal that prevailed in the intellectual sphere after the Fourth Crusade.
The paintings in this church are among the most important early-13th-century frescoes that have survived in the Mediterranean and indeed the whole of Europe. These two outstanding examples of religious art are important evidence of patronage before the period of Venetian rule, of the work of major painters on the island of Crete and of the existence of a market with sophisticated artistic preferences in the Apokoronas region. The works catered to the tastes of the local aristocracy and were intended to “converse” primarily with that class, while reflecting the ideological and social background of the upper class of the time. During the period of Venetian rule, two trends were evident on the island of Crete. One expressed the new artistic outlook originating from Constantinople and constituting what is known as the Paleologan Renaissance. No examples of this style earlier than the 15th century survive in Apokoronas. On the contrary, important frescoes in the popular style are preserved in the area. Artistic preferences from the late 13th century onwards indicate a shift towards established iconographic types and styles. These are important groups of works, as they bear witness to the new conditions that prevailed in the region. Most of the churches are small, simple single-nave churches with a pointed barrel-vaulted roof. No domed churches of this period survive in Apokoronas. Thus the iconographic programme is adapted to the space available, still following the same principles as in the previous period. The churches are often endowed by lower-ranking clergy, since the Church of Crete is now headless. Joint commissioning of church construction or renovation is also common, as the inscriptions attest. In Apokoronas, a surviving inscription in St Nicholas in Maza refers to communal funding by the whole village of Maza. These churches provide information on both patrons and painters. The signature of Ioannis Pagomenos, the most successful Cretan painter of the late Middle Ages, appears in the churches of the Virgin Syrothiani in Alikambos and St Nicholas in Maza.
Byzantine Art in Panagia in Alikambos
The work of two painters can be distinguished in the church of the Panagia in Alikambos. The main church, according to the dedicatory inscription, is decorated by Ioannis Pagomenos. Pagomenos painted over 30 churches in West Crete over a period of about 40 years, including that of St Nicholas in Maza.
The painters executed their works during the summer months, from May to October, so the painting of one of the 30 churches associated with Pagomenos would not have taken more than six months. The choice of weather conditions was due to the lower humidity, which meant that the frescoes could be worked on more easily. We see from his works that Pagomenos was often aided by an assistant, so the time required would have been even less. We can therefore suppose that this painter in high demand only went home during the winter months, his workload imposing a seasonal, nomadic lifestyle.
Surviving contracts of the Venetian period provide useful information on the painter’s profession and way of life. For example, the patron often paid for the food of the painters, who were responsible in turn for supplying the members of their workshop. It was not uncommon for the painter to cover the cost of materials, provided that they were of good quality, and there are also cases of artists asking the patron to pay for the scaffolding, for instance. Painters of the early Venetian period would probably have earned almost twice as much as an unskilled labourer.
The profession was often hereditary, kept within the family. Painters often had apprentices, whom they had to support as well as teach. The painters themselves had considerable theological knowledge and appear to have enjoyed a fair amount of freedom in their choice of subject and rendition. However, their commissioners also often indicated the more specific subjects they wished to have depicted in the churches they endowed.
Although many names of patrons are mentioned in the inscriptions and numerous portraits of donors survive in Crete, few generous inhabitants of Apokoronas are recorded in the surviving works of the region. Portraits of donors are preserved in the churches of Panagia in Alikambos and St Nicholas in Maza.
Byzantine Art in Agios Nikolaos in Maza
Two donors’ names are recorded in the dedicatory inscription of the church in Maza. They were the main sponsors of the project, while the whole village contributed financially, as the inscription attests. The order in which the names are listed indicates the size of the contribution. Thus Dimitris Sarakinopoulos, who is recorded first, must have been the person who paid the most money per capita; he is also the donor whose portrait is painted in the church.
Sarakinopoulos is depicted on a smaller scale within the main painting of St Nicholas, to whom the church is dedicated. He is facing the saint, his hands raised in a gesture of supplication. Sarakinopoulos is not holding a model of the church, like the pair of donors in nearby Alikambos, for the simple reason that he was not the only person who paid for its construction and renovation. However, the obviously larger amount of funding he provided secured him a place in the fresco decoration of the church.
These churches with their paintings in the popular style preserve valuable information on contemporary society. Local social conditions are especially highlighted by the figures of the damned that adorn the west side of the church of the Panagia in Karydi.
Byzantine Art in the Monastery of Panagia in Karydi
The female sinners are depicted in a separate panel from the male sinners, reflecting the distinction between the sexes during this period and the different activities that could lead each to hell. All the figures are depicted on a red background as they are consumed by the fiery tongues of hell. Sinful women are usually condemned to hell for sexual “crimes”, such as prostitution and procurement, but also for behaviours attributable to their female nature. The medieval concept of the natural connection between women and sin is displayed in the depiction of a serpent threatening the organ of sin in each case (the mouth of the meddler, the breast of the mother who refuses to suckle her infant). The serpent symbolises woman’s unbroken connection with original sin. The image of the serpent as an allegory of female nature in this church is distinguished by the fact that the sins associated with fraud in women’s work and with fraud and crimes committed by the male sex do not include a serpent. The instrument with which the crime or fraud was committed is depicted instead. Thus the murderer is accompanied by a knife and the cheating weaver by loomweights. However, what resulted in torture by serpent for both sexes was sexual activity. A serpent sinks its fangs into the genitals of the lecher, perhaps the victim of the procuress, who is depicted with a snake biting her mouth, the organ of her sinful profession. A pimp is not portrayed in the hell of men.
The connection between guilt and original sin is also reflected in the nakedness of the figures, which they are no longer able to hide.
Besides the gender perceptions reflected in the images, elements relating to work and rural life can also be seen.
However, alongside the churches featuring paintings in the popular style of the Venetian period are those with groups of paintings that reflect academic trends. An interesting group in which popular and academic trends coexist is found in the Apokoronas region, adorning the church of St John the Divine in Stylos.
Byzantine Art in Agios Ioannis Theologos in Stylos
Fragments of 13th-century frescoes are preserved in the north chapel, dedicated to St John the Divine. The colossal representation of St John with St Prochorus is visible in the blind arch of the south wall. The painting depicts the evangelist dictating his vision of the Revelation to his disciple. The hand of God over John’s head represents divine inspiration. The Baptism on the west wall is also discernible, as is a scene of a saint’s martyrdom. In the lower fresco zone are individual saints, such as St Anthony the monk. The paintings in the north chapel are the work of a skilled folk artist who followed the established trends of his time.
Fragments of frescoes also survive from the cross-vaulted narthex of the church.
The fresco decoration of the south nave, dedicated to St Nicholas, is preserved in better condition. The surviving figures of a deacon on the sanctuary wall and a hierarch on the south wall show that the artist was up to date with contemporary trends.
The paintings of the region bear witness to the inhabitants’ artistic sensibilities and their interest in works of high aesthetic value, which allowed them to display their social status in life and confirmed their hopes of salvation after death.
Fun fact
Although a Cretan, Dimitrios Sarakinopoulos, an important patron of the church of St Nicholas in Maza, wears Venetian dress. In 1339, fifteen years after the fresco was painted, the Venetian authorities banned men and women from wearing certain types of luxurious garments. Although Venice did not have class-based dress codes, it did not want to lose money from the purchase of clothing that did not come from territories under its control. The high Cretan demand for luxury dress led the metropolis to take measures to restrict access to ostentatious clothing.
