Laskaris House
| Department | Archive |
|---|---|
| Collection | Byzantine Research Fund |
| Reference No. | BRF/01/01/14/127 |
| Level | Item |
| Place |
Laskaris House Mystras |
| Dates | May-July 1909? |
| Donor/Creator |
George, Mr Walter Sykes |
| Scope and Content | From left to right: Longitudinal section - East elevation - North elevation. The drawing is entitled in pencil: 'Mistras House no 2(of the Palaeologi - Michael?)'. It is labelled in pencil: 'Long Section', 'East Elevation' and 'North Elevation'. It is signed in the upper right-hand corner (W. George) in pencil. |
| 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 Achaia in the location was the castle (1249). Soon, a settlement was established outside the citadel- most of the churches and chapels stand outside it too. 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. The so-called ‘House of Laskaris’ is located in the Marmara suburb in the lower town down the hill-side just below the Pantanassa church. It is a two-storey building: the large vaulted room at ground level and the barrel-vaulted chamber above it were used as a stable and a storage room respectively, the saddle-roofed upper storey which was entered by a stone staircase at the side was the main residence. Recent research demonstrated that the house was part of a larger complex which evolved gradually from several smaller structures. Impressive is the arched opening of the stable as well as the blind arches and the large windows of the upper floor. A broad balcony formed above the storage chamber opens up to the Eurotas valley. The house is built in regular cloisonné decorated by brickwork arches and shares many common features with the so called ‘Fragkopoulos House’ in Mistras and the Tekfur Serai in Constantinople. The original building may have been built, according to the local tradition, for Alexios Lascaris Metochites Palaiologos, the former governor of the Byzantine territory in the Peloponnese, at the beginning of the 14th c. |
| Reference |
1988. Δελτίον της Χριστιανικής Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας. περίοδος Δ', τόμος ΙΓ': 263, εικ.3a. |