Evangelistria
| Department | Archive |
|---|---|
| Collection | Byzantine Research Fund |
| Reference No. | BRF/02/01/14/008 |
| Level | Item |
| Place |
Geraki |
| Dates | 1904-1905? |
| Donor/Creator |
Wace, Mr Alan John Bayard |
| Scope and Content | South-west view. Annotation in pencil on the back of the photo: H.S. 2900, Geraki, Lacoina, H. Sozon, A.J.B.W. H.S.= Hellenic Society negative number. The church has been misidentified as Hagios Sozon. |
| Further information | Built by the Franks around 1250 east of the present-day village, Geraki castle was ceded to Michael VIII in 1262 as ransom for Guillaume de Villechardouin’s freedom and remained in Greek hands until the middle of the 15th c. It is of irregular polygon shape with gate-houses, large corner towers and a plastered cistern against the south-east enceinte. The main gate, which is surmounted by three niches once filled with armorial bearings, is on the west side. The masonry throughout is rubble with tiles. The castle is said to have been built in emulation to that of Mistras and was drastically restored by the Byzantines. Numerous houses, churches and chapels still survive inside the castle walls. The church of the Evangelistria, the only single cell cross-in-square inscribed church in Geraki, lies east of the present-day village. The dome of the monument is octagonal with single-light windows. Although the rubble masonry of the church has not been very carefully applied, it is enlivened by spolia of the finest quality: part of an epistyle has been used as lintel in the main apse window. A fully developed iconographic fresco programme decorates the interior of the monument. Some of the scenes, which recall the finest works of the so-called Comnenian Renaissance, could be dated to the end of the 12th c., however, the majority must be assigned a date around the end of the 13th c. |
| Related records |
[BSA SPHS 01/1082.2900], Geraki: Evangelistria in the Kastro, 1905
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