General View of the Byzantine Church at Daou Monastery
| Department | Archive |
|---|---|
| Collection | BSA SPHS Image Collection |
| Reference No. | BSA SPHS 01/0087.0673 |
| Level | Item |
| Description | Glass negative, half plate size, a copy negative. |
| Dimensions | 16 x 12 cm |
| Place |
Daou Pendeli |
| Dates | 1902 |
| Donor/Creator |
The British School at Athens |
| Project | Daou-Pendeli Monastery Architectural Survey 1902 |
| Scope and Content | The original description in the SPHS register reads: "Attica: Byzantine church at Daou, general view". |
| Notes | Date baseed on Comyn's and Hasluck's survey of the church - see Comyn, H. 1902/1903, 'Church of the Ruined Monastery at Daou-Mendeli, Attica', BSA 9: 388-390. Image has been cropped in the Comyn 1902/1903 article. |
| Further information | The monastery of Daou-Penteli stands on the eastern slope of the Penteli mountain. Demetrios Anadromaris and Ioannis Alexinas restored the church of Tao, founded on the same location by a certain Iberian noble in the late 11th-early 12th c., during the second half of the 16th c. In 1565 the Athenian metropolitan Sophronios re-founded the restored church as the katholikon of a new monastic complex dedicated to Christ Pantokrator. The monastery of Daou (the name derives from the Iberian land of 'Tao') suffered severe damage by Algerian pirates at the end of the 17th c. The katholikon follows a type frequently characterised as 'Hagioreitikos'. The imposing central dome is supported by six pillars, a unique feature in Byzantine and post-Byzantine architecture in Greece. Parts of the impressive marble templon of the middle Byzantine church have been incorporated into the sixteenth-century masonry. The exonarthex is a later addition. Ruins of the monastic enclosure, the cells, the refectory, the stables and of a defence tower still survive in situ. |
| Reference |
1903. BSA 9: pl.14. Link to article 1904 JHS 24: Catalogue of Slides. xcviii.SPHS 673. Link to article 1904 JHS 24: Catalogue of Slides. xcviii.SPHS 673 bis. Link to article 1913 JHS 33: Catalogue of Slides. 39.SPHS 673. Link to article 1913 JHS 33: Catalogue of Slides. 39.SPHS 673 bis. Link to article |