Agios Ioannis Theologos (Lygourio)
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The church of Agios Ioannis Theologos ( Greek Άγιος Ιωάννης ο Θεολόγος ) is about 4 km northeast of the Greek town of Lygourio on the road to Nea Epidavros . The place is also called Paligourio. Here the medieval Lygourio lay beneath a castle before it was moved to its current location.
history
The church was built in the middle of the 11th century. It was neither plastered nor frescoed . Why and when it collapsed is unknown. It was probably rebuilt in the 19th century and used as a catholicon of a small monastery. When the Greek architect Stavros V. Mamaloukos examined the building in 1984, there was still a monastery cell measuring 4.70 m by 3.60 m, which was attached to the western end of the south wall. The residents told him that there was a similar extension on the north wall. There are also researchers who put the reconstruction in the time of the second Venetian rule (1685-1715). Remnants of painting inside the church come from the second phase of use. In 1964 the iconostasis that still exists today was installed. In 2009 the church was restored. The attached monastery cell was also torn down. During accompanying excavations, graves from the 12th to 14th centuries were discovered.
description
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Agios Ioannis Theologos is a two - column cross- domed church . The three-aisled church has a length of 8.30 m and a width of 7.90 m. The main entrance is on the west side. There is a second entrance with propylon on the south side. Ancient building materials made of poros , limestone and bricks were used to build the church . The outer walls were built in the style of cloisonné masonry . At a height of about 3 m there was a strip of Opus reticulatum , which consists of triangular earthenware tiles and used to run around the church. It is framed by a toothed strip at the top and bottom. There are also parts of brick ornaments, some of which show pseudokufic ornamentation . The south wall is almost completely preserved in its original state. Only the double arches in the gable of the transept are no longer there. From the eastern part, the lower part of the original walls is still present. The arched windows on the apses of the side aisles and the double arched window on the central apse have been replaced by narrow rectangular slots. The north wall is only preserved in the lower part and here too the windows in the gable of the transept have disappeared. Hardly anything of the original condition is left of the west wall. There were probably three entrances on this side in the past - one for each ship. There is a round skylight over the door . The tambour was also heavily changed. It used to be higher and had four arched windows instead of the narrow slits that exist today. The dome was originally hemispherical.
Even today, the interior is not plastered. Only on the southern arch below the dome is a small remainder of the painting from the second phase of use preserved. Old marble fragments were also occasionally built in. There is an arcosolium in the north wall , which suggests that there was a tomb here. The dome is supported by four pillars, with the eastern pillars integrated into the barrier walls between the naves. The four icons in the iconostasis show from left to right the Evangelist John , to whom the church is consecrated, Mary , Jesus Christ and John the Baptist . In the sanctuary behind the iconostasis you can see the altar. The floor is covered with black and white tiles.
Web links
literature
- Richard Speicher: Peloponnese. 2nd Edition. W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Berlin / Cologne 1980, ISBN 3-17-010031-9 , p. 185
- Petros Sarantakis: Argolida, Churches & Monasteries. A humble pilgrimage in sacred places. Athens 2007, ISBN 978-960-91420-4-5 , pp. 113-114
- Stavros V. Mamaloukos: Ένας άγνωστος βυζαντινός ναός στην Αργολίδα. Ο Άγιος Ιωάννης ο Θεολόγος Παλιού Λιγουριού in Δελτίον XAE 12 1984, pp. 409–440 ( online )
Coordinates: 37 ° 38 ′ 16.3 " N , 23 ° 4 ′ 10.7" E