Mount Athos: Woodcarving of the Crucifixion from the Skete of Kapsokalyvia

Department Archive
Collection BSA SPHS Image Collection
Reference No. BSA SPHS 01/6465.C6079
Level Item
Description Glass negative, quarter plate size, a copy negative.
Dimensions 10x8 cm
Place Skete of Kapsokalyvia
Mount Athos
Dates 1935-1936
Donor/Creator Dawkins, Mr Richard McGillivray
Project Dawkins in Mount Athos 1905-1935
Scope and Content The original description in the SPHS register reads: "Athos woodcarving the crucifixion". The negative was originally recorded as missing in the SPHS register.
Notes Earliest date based on Dawkin's visit to Athos in 1935 according to his book, The Monks of Athos. Latest date based on the publication of the image in that book. Kapsokalyvia is noted for its woodworking (Dawkins 1936, p. 82) and is dependant on the Monastery of Great Lavra.
Further information Sketae are semi-autonomous religious communities - hermitages - loosely attached to monasteries. They typically consist of huts or cottages in the neighbourhood of a central building which houses the church. Hasluck indicates that St. Anne Skete is the oldest on Mount Athos, dating to the 16th century, with the others dating to the 17th or 18th century. The community minimally consists of an Elder and at least one monk and a novice. Inhabitants of sketae live strictly and engage in manual labour, mainly craft production such as woodworking or painting.
Hasluck, F.W. 1924. Athos and its Monasteries, London: Kegan Paul (pp. 76-78)
Reference Dawkins, R.M. 1936. The monks of Athos. facing 82, pl. IV (left).