Pantanassa-Megalo Monastiri-Monastiraki

Department Archive
Collection Byzantine Research Fund
Reference No. BRF/01/01/01/089
Level Item
Place Pantanassa Monastiri-Monasteiraki
Athens
Dates 1888-1890
Donor/Creator Weir Schultz, Mr Robert
Barnsley, Mr Sidney Howard
Scope and Content Ground plan. The Drawing is entitled (in pencil): 'Athens Church of Our Lady of the Great Monastery'.
Further information The church of the Pantanassa, at Monastiraki square (Megalo Monastiri), 10th century (?), follows the architectural type of a three-aisled domed basilica with two conches at the east and the west end of the longitudinal barrel-vault.
The way the dome is supported by squinches or pendetives is very reminiscent of contemporary Islamic techniques. A similar architectural type was created in Athens during the 16th and the 17th centuries. The church of Hagios Dionysios at Areios Pagos (10th century?), which used to serve as the metropolitan church of Athens and the Pantanassa church must have been used as prototypes. The church of the Pantanassa was the katholikon of a nunnery. In 1678 it was granted as a metochion to the monastery of the Kaisariani. The church, the west façade in particular, was extensively restored in 1911.