George's Church (Kurbinovo)
| George's Church | |
|---|---|
 George's Church in Kurbinovo, south side |
|
| Data | |
| place | Kurbinovo, Prespa |
| Architectural style | Byzantine architecture |
| Construction year | 1185-1190 |
| Coordinates | 40 ° 59 '7.01 " N , 21 ° 4' 5.99" E |
| particularities | |
| Cloisonné technique | |
The Church of St. George is located 2 km from the village Kurbinovo in the region Pelagonia in southwest Nordmazedoniens near Lake Prespa . Excavations have shown that the 12th century church was once located in a settlement that was abandoned at the end of the 18th century in favor of today's Kurbinovo. The church is dedicated to St. George , a Roman officer in the imperial army who was beheaded in Nicomedia in 303 .
Dating
Nothing is known about the first centuries of the Church. Only a painted inscription on the eastern side of the altar mentions April 25, 1191 as the beginning of the fresco work that fell during the first reign of Isaac II Angelus (1185 / 95–1203 / 04). This epigraphic reference was discovered in 1958 during conservation work and confirms the dating assumed in 1940 by M. Radivoje Ljubinković through iconographic and stylistic comparisons. The previous sparse publications wrongly put the time when the frescoes were created in the 16th century. The year may also indicate the establishment of the Church. Because of its simple architecture and small dimensions, it could have been built between 1185 and 1190.
However, the inscription on the altar does not provide any information about the circumstances under which the church was built, who supported it or who made the frescoes. No other written certificates are known. However, a donor portrait on the west wall could provide information about the social status of the builder. However, the scene is badly damaged, the faces of the four people are obliterated and there are no eponymous inscriptions. Because of the clothing and the year the frescoes were made, one of the characters is identified as Isaac II Angelus , the female figure as his wife Margaret of Hungary . The third could be John X. Kamateros , Archbishop of Ohrid , and the fourth unidentified figure possibly his protégé. The latter, however, must have belonged to the higher circles and belonged to an influential group of the nobility.
architecture
The 15 × 7 m building is one of the largest hall churches in Macedonia and its architecture is not very representative. It consists only of a long, rectangular nave and a semicircular apse in the east. A throne made of masonry is attached to the center of the apse wall, in front of which is the monolithic, cubic altar. The area of the dimension is increased by two steps from the rest of the church floor.
The main entrance is in the west, while there is a door in each of the side walls. The northern one is almost at the window level, as this side of the church is bordered by a slope. All three entrances are crowned by a bezel with two archivolts . The walls in the north and south are pierced by two narrow windows each with round arches, two more are arranged in pairs in the apse and a seventh window opening with a round arch creates light in the western gable zone. Two rectangular windows also break through the south wall.
Next to the apse, which is covered by two archivolts, there are two rectangular niches with round arches at the level of the paired windows. These symbolically take on the role of the prosthesis and the deaconicon . Two more rectangular recesses are embedded in the side walls of the dimension. The one in the south is clogged and is significantly lower than its counterpart, but still cuts slightly into the figure of a bishop.
The walls of the church are made of roughly hewn stone, held together with mortar. Flatter stones and bricks lie irregularly around the lunettes and windows as well as in the apse zone. The upper two-thirds of the eastern wall is adorned with two horizontal strips of bricks reminiscent of the cloisonné technique . The lower part, however, is very rough. In the 11th century Byzantium was caught up in the trend to make the facades of religious buildings more lively and to loosen them up with niches, bricks and friezes . In Macedonia, especially in Kastoria, the masonry was decorated with patterns formed by bricks. The double archivolt bezel was also widely used in Byzantine architecture from the 11th century .
Frescoes
facade
St. George's Church is decorated with frescoes both inside and outside. On the western facade, brickwork is imitated using the cloisonné technique up to the level of the lintel . Further fake bricks can be found in the lower apse zone and the first archivolt above the south door. The frescoes attached to the rest of the church masonry are very faded. Two riders flanking the western lunette with halos, shields and lances are better preserved. The remains of two people in splendid clothing and imperial shoes can be seen above the left saint, and another clothed figure above the right rider. In the first archivolt above the door there is a two-line inscription. The representation in the north bezel is lost. Instead, the geometrical and floral patterns of the archivolts are exceptionally well preserved. Bricks are imitated in the first arch of the southern lunette, the central motif of the panel is the Deesis , in which Georg participated. To the right of the door are faint traces of figures on a smaller scale, divided into four registers.
inner space
The interior of the church is covered from top to bottom with paintings that are divided into three to five registers. The first and lowest zone imitates marble cladding. Above are saints who also cover the door jambs. The figures are usually arranged in a group of three people, for example the doctor saints Panteleimonas , Cosmas and Damian . Constantine the Great and his mother Helena can be seen on the south wall and can also be found among the saints of other churches. The most important female martyrs are gathered on the west wall with Thekla , Petka, Theodora, Barbara , Kyriake and Katharina . Euphrosynus and the nursing Anna , mother of Mary, stand out as two of the oldest representations of all. An essential figure of the Christian mission among the Macedonian Slavs is embodied in Saint Clement on the north wall, while Cyril and Methodius are considered to be patrons of the Byzantine-Slavic culture.
In the zone above the Christ cycle begins on the triumphal arch with the announcement. Gabriel is to the left of the cone , Maria on the right. The sequence continues on the south wall: Visitation , conversation between Mary and Elizabeth, birth of Christ, presentation in the temple, baptism and raising of Lazarus. In the west, the Passion begins with the entry into Jerusalem, followed by the transfiguration , which is usually depicted after the baptismal scene. Between moving in and transfiguration, the west entrance is crowned by the koimesis . In the north it continues with the crucifixion, the descent from the cross, the entombment, the women at the grave and the descent into hell. In the eastern gable zone, the cycle ends with the Ascension. Opposite her on the west wall is the Pentecost scene. Below it is a representation of the theophany covering the entire width of the wall . Two monumental icons of Christ and George occupying two registers are placed opposite one another on the first raised floor.
Thirty prophets occupy the fourth register, but only on the side walls. These herald the return of Christ through their writings. Two figures in the far east of the walls wear the same imperial footwear as those on the west facade.
The apse , in its conche framed by ornaments and an inscription, shows the enthroned Mary with the Christ child in her arms, flanked by Michael and Gabriel. Below eight church fathers walk towards the newborn Christ, who is lying on an altar for his ritual sacrifice. This scene appears for the first time in Byzantine art in St. George's Church in Kurbinovo and thus makes an enormous contribution to the development of the variety of scenes. The topic arose from the heated discussion in Constantinople about the Eucharistic sacrifice that had existed since the second half of the 11th century and was taken up again and again as a representation up until the Middle Ages. Some door openings and window frames have a decor in the form of lines that are reminiscent of the veining of marble. The altar and the throne could have had a similar appearance.
This image program is usually used in church buildings with a dome. Since the Georgskirche only has a gable roof, the representations had to be adapted to this room. For example, the prophets, which are usually attached in the dome drum, are located on the upper side walls or the theophany in the fourth zone of the west wall.
Artist and style
At least three painters seem to have been involved in the fresco decoration, but they remain anonymous. There is, however, a difference in their skill. So the most capable of them created the Christ and George icons as well as those depictions on the upper east wall. Another worked on the side walls, while the least talented tried on the west wall, the lower part of the east wall and a section in the north. It is assumed that local artists were involved in the frescoes and that the master designed the church of the doctor saints Cosmas and Damian in the not far away Kastoria in 1180 .
As far as the style is concerned, this describes the last phase of the development of Komnenian art, but there are minor deviations from the strict symmetry used in the image structure. Further characteristics of the artists are the strongly elongated bodies and the expressionlessness in the faces of the figures. Instead, the clothing with its restless drapery is used as a carrier of emotions, which meanders along the hips, arms and legs or, partially detached, flutters after a person as a result of rapid movement. Only through this aspect is an insight into the emotional world of the characters given. An exception to this is the most untalented painter, who in the Koimesis scene shows the grief over the asleep of the Blessed Mother on the faces of those present.
Conservation status and changes
With the exception of those on the east wall, the paintings inside have lost their color intensity. As for the first zone with imitation marble, it no longer exists between the throne in the apse and the south door and on the north door. In the second register, almost all of the saints on the south wall are lost or badly damaged by the penetration of moisture, as the wall is not isolated by a slope as in the north.
The northern door jamb is adorned by the horseman saint Demetrius , who is not part of the original decor. It is dated to the end of the 16th century or the beginning of the 17th century. The frescoes on the south facade (with the exception of those on the lunette ) could also date from the latter century , but according to a study by M. Miljković-Pepek, they date from the 14th century.
Shortly before the middle of the 19th century, a fire damaged the church, especially the south wall. The porch was also destroyed. The restoration in 1847 that followed the event resulted in some unfortunate changes, for example the damage to the frescoes in the upper wall area by replacing the wooden ceiling or the clogging of the two side doors and the opening of the two rectangular windows in the south wall. The original iconostasis on the first raised floor was replaced by another. On the western facade, the equestrian saints and the fresco on the lunette have been replaced by three other riders.
Further restoration work took place in the first half of the 20th century. Later additions such as a porch in the west were removed, which can still be guessed by the slightly visible shape on the facade. In 1958 the following work was carried out: removing the roof and raising the walls by 50 cm, opening the side doors and replacing the raised floor. Furthermore, the frescoes were cleaned and restored and the original equestrian saints on the west wall were exposed again.
gallery
West facade of the church
Equestrian saint on the west facade, to the right of the entrance door
Looking east at the iconostasis
Frescoes on the eastern gable zone
Baptism and raising of Lazarus, south wall
Christ icon and birth of Christ, south wall
Constantine the Great and Helena , south wall
Descent into Hell, north face
Church fathers in the left part of the apse
Mary with the Christ child in the apse
literature
- Elizabeta Dimitrova: The Church of St. George at Kurbinovo . In: Seven mediaeval churches in the republic of Macedonia . Skopje 2014, pp. 46–62.
- Vojislav Durić: Byzantine frescoes in Yugoslavia . Munich 1976, pp. 17-19.
- Lydie Hadermann-Misguich: Kurbinovo. Les fresques de Saint-Georges et la peinture byzantine du XIIe siècle . Bruxelles 1975, pp. 11-21.
- Sašo Korunovski, Elizabeta Dimitrova: Macédoine Byzantine. Histoire de l'art macédonia du IXe au XIVe siècle . Paris 2006, pp. 50-52. 73-80.
- Aneta Serafimova: Mediaeval Painting in Macedonia (9th-18th Centuries) . Skopje 2000, pp. 42-46.
