Metamorphosis tou Soteiros

Department Archive
Collection Byzantine Research Fund
Reference No. BRF/01/01/12/032
Level Item
Place Plataniti
Dates 1907-1908?
Donor/Creator Harvey, Mr William
Scope and Content Ground plan (left) - Roof plan (right). The drawing is signed in pencil (W. Harvey) in the lower right-hand corner. Further annotation in pencil survives.
Further information The small church of the Metamorphosis tou Soteiros (Trasfiguration of Christ) is located at the centre of present-day Plataniti village. It is of the simple inscribed cross-in-square type with dome of the so-called Athenian type. The church was drastically repaired in 1959. Rubble masonry was combined with the most careful cloisonné in the side exterior walls. The cornices of the building have been removed or destroyed during a later period. No sculpture or frescoes decorate the interior of the church. The carved porous frame of the east apse window still survives in situ while the pseudo-Kufic inserts that enliven the exterior the building are of a debased form. On these grounds the monument has been assigned a date around the end of the 12th c.