Hagios Georgios, Kitta
| Department | Archive |
|---|---|
| Collection | Byzantine Research Fund |
| Reference No. | BRF/02/01/14/059 |
| Level | Item |
| Place |
Mani |
| Dates | 1909? |
| Donor/Creator |
Traquair, Mr Ramsay |
| Scope and Content | North-east view. The photograph is annotated in pencil at the back. |
| Further information | The area in the middle of the Peloponnese, on the Laconia/Messenia border, was known as early as the 10th c. as the ‘Mani’. It was occupied by the Slavs in the early Medieval period and was christianised in the 10th c. by Hosios Nikon. There are scores of Byzantine and post-Byzantine churches in the Mani: the first major phase of building activity in the region seems to run from the late 10th to the later 12th c. The small church of Hagioi Sergios and Bacchos to the north of Kitta, known also as ‘Hagios Georgios’ and the ‘Tourlote’ (the domed one), is an inscribed four-columned cross-in-square domed building with barrel-vaulted cross arms. A narthex was originally attached to the west. The church is considered to be one of the ‘finest old churches’ in the Mani due to its perfect analogies and the quality of its architecture. Dentil courses and an abacus frieze decorate the upper parts of the building, large vertical stone blocks have been incorporated into the cloisonné in the lower parts of the walls, the dome is of the ‘Athenian’ type. While the exterior is strongly reminiscent of the Greek-mainland church-building tradition, the so-called ‘Greek School’, the sculpture in the building points towards a local workshop. Frescoes, which have mostly now gone, decorated the interior. A surviving dedicatory inscription identifies George Marase as the founder. The church was dated by Megaw to the third quarter of the 12th c. The monument was radically restored in 1956. |