Fragkopoulos House
| Department | Archive |
|---|---|
| Collection | Byzantine Research Fund |
| Reference No. | BRF/01/01/14/122 |
| Level | Item |
| Place |
Fragkopoulous House Mystras |
| Dates | May-July 1909? |
| Donor/Creator |
George, Mr Walter Sykes |
| Scope and Content | Cross section (left) - Longitudinal section (right). The drawing is entitled in pencil: 'House no1 Mistras'. It is labelled in pencil: 'Cross Section' - 'Long Section'. Further annotation in pencil survives. |
| Further information | Mistras, one of the most important medieval cities of Morea, lies four miles north-west of present-day Sparta on the summit of a Taygetos hill. The first building to be erected by William II Villehardouin, the Frankish prince of Achaea, in the location was the castle (1249). Soon, a settlement was established outside the citadel outside which most of the churches and chapels stand. After the recapture of Morea by the Byzantines in 1262, Mistras became the headquarters of the Byzantine general and, later, the seat of the Lakedaimonian bishopic. During the 14th c. it was the capital of the Despotate of Mistras and flourished under the Kantakouzenoi and the Palaiologoi reign until its fall to the Turks in 1460. House ‘Φ’ of the Mistras settlement, the so-called ‘Frafkopoulos House, is located on the road that leads to Pantanassa. The house was named after Constantine Palaiologos’ general, Ioannis Fragkopoulos, who restored the nearby Pantanassa church (the Greek letter ‘PH’, ‘Φ’ is written in small ceramic pieces on the north side). The building is of oblong/rectangular shape, and the rear is entirely built into the rock. The ground floor, which must have been rather dark since it was lit exclusively by two small oculi, is covered by a barrel-vaulted ceiling. The main door is on the north side of the house. The narrow front side of the upper storey opens out to a large terrace with majestic view over the Eurotas plain. Niches and a fireplace decorated the interior. The floor was saddle-roofed. Fragkopoulos House has been dated to around the beginning of the 15th c. |