Hagioi Theodoroi
| Department | Archive |
|---|---|
| Collection | Byzantine Research Fund |
| Reference No. | BRF/01/01/01/119 |
| Level | Item |
| Place |
Hagioi Theodoroi Athens |
| Dates | 1888-1890 |
| Donor/Creator |
Weir Schultz, Mr Robert Barnsley, Mr Sidney Howard |
| Scope and Content | Rubbing - Detail of the ornamental terracotta panel-frieze (champleve process). Further annotation in pencil survives. |
| Further information | Hagioi Theodoroi in Klafthmonos square, a distyle cross-in-square church with Athenian dome and narthex, was restored, according to two dedicatory inscriptions built into the west wall above the entrance, by Nikolaos Kalomalos in 1049 (?). The walling of the building, which is characteristic of the middle-Byzantine Greek mainland tradition (‘Greek School’), is a regular cloisonné: single cut-bricks have been inserted between the ashlar blocks, the west, south and north sides of the church display denial courses and continuous ornamental terracotta panel-friezes across the gables. The friezes, which are unique, belong more properly to the province of sculpture than of brickwork: their designs include, in addition to Kufic, both animal and purely ornamental champlevé motifs. Kufic patterns decorate the double windows of the octagonal dome. Arcade-type windows, which have been in great use during the early years of the 11th c. (in the Hagioi Apostoloi church at Athens, the Theotokos church of the Hossios Loukas monastery, the west front of the Panagia Lykodemou church, and the east façade of the Kapnikarea church) are not used in the monument at all. Parts of the original marble templon of the church have been incorporated into the cloister walls which date to a later period. |