Hagios Spyridon, Kardamyli

Department Archive
Collection Byzantine Research Fund
Reference No. BRF/02/01/14/092
Level Item
Place Mani
Dates 1909?
Donor/Creator Traquair, Mr Ramsay
Scope and Content Close view of south window. The photograph is annotated in pancil at the back.
Further information The area in the middle of the Peloponnese, on the Laconia/Messenia 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 Hosios 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 12th c.

The church of Hagios Spyridon inside Kardamyli castle-grounds is a single-aisled domed church (cell). Worth noting in the building are: the marble doorframe with the western-type pilasters; lavish marble window-frames; the excellent quality Byzantine spolia which were incorporated into the walling and the imposing bell-tower built by porous stone and decorated with naïve carved ornaments/motifs. The church is dated to the 18th c., the first period of economic revival in the Mani since the Turkish conquest.
Reference 1909. BSA 15: pl.17d. Link to article