Taxiarches, Pyrgos Dirou
| Department | Archive |
|---|---|
| Collection | Byzantine Research Fund |
| Reference No. | BRF/02/01/14/101 |
| Level | Item |
| Place |
Mani |
| Dates | 1909? |
| Donor/Creator |
Traquair, Mr Ramsay |
| Scope and Content | South-west view. The photograph is annotated in pencil at the back. The church is called 'Hagia Marina' by Traquair who follows Leake. In fact Hagia Marina is a ruin about a quarter of a mile south-west of the church. |
| Further information | The area in the middle of the Peloponnese, on the Laconia/Messinia border, was known as early as the 10th c. as the Mani. It was occupied by the Slavs in the early Medieval period and was christianised in the 10th c. by Hossios Nikon. There are scores of Byzantine and post-Byzantine churches in the Mani: the first major phase of building activity in the region seems to run from the late 10th to the later 12thc. Pyrgos Dirou is located at the heart of the Mani. The church of the Taxiarches stands alone on the hillside a short distance to the south of Pyrgos Dirou. It is of the four-column cross-in-square type with octagonal dome. The masonry is of stone and brick carefully built with a dentil course round the building at the level of the cornice. Dedicatory inscriptions survive on the east tie-beam of the church. Only the narthex and the west façade have been rebuilt with the addition of a belfry. The rest, which is as it was erected, dates to the 11th c. |