Panagia tou Arakos
Panagia tou Arakos ( Greek Παναγία του Άρακος ) is a church building of the Cypriot Orthodox Church in Cyprus . The church was in 1985 by the UNESCO as part of the World Heritage Site Painted Churches in the area of Troodos in the World Heritage UNESCO added.
description
The church is one of the barn roof churches in the Troodos Mountains and is located on the edge of Lagoudera . It dates from the late 12th century and is consecrated to Mary, mother of Jesus , as an all saint . The name "tou arakou" or "tou arakos" is derived from αρακάς, arakas, pea; Mary was often called by the nickname of a plant. Dedicatory inscriptions date the frescoes to the year 1192. Leon, son of a Byzantine official, donated them - the most complete central Byzantine painting in Cyprus. "Since there are no paintings of the time in Constantinople itself, the viewer comes as close as possible to the court style of the capital before the Crusaders conquered it."
The larger than life Panagia Arakiotissa (with a dedicatory inscription) is located in a niche on the south wall. Mary stands before a throne without a backrest with a sausage-shaped pillow. She looks sadly at the child she is carrying. Angels left and right hold the instruments of Jesus' passion . “It is the earliest Byzantine depiction of a Mater dolorosa .” Perhaps the seriousness of the political situation - the conquest of Cyprus by Isaac Komnenos in 1185, then by Richard the Lionheart in 1191, the transition to the Templars in the same year and to the House of Lusignan a year later - caused the seriousness of the painting. "Mariä Tempelgang" is in the opposite niche in the north wall. According to the Proto-Gospel of James , the three-year-old Mary was given over to the service in the temple in Jerusalem by her parents Joachim and Anna . Seven Hebrew virgins with silver earrings and richly embroidered robes follow Joachim, Anna and Maria. Mary is depicted a second time on the roof of the temple receiving bread from an angel.
Panagia Arakiotissa
Saint Anthony
literature
- Andreas Stylianou and Judith A. Stylianou: The Church of Panagia tou Arakou . In: The Painted Churches of Cyprus . 2nd revised ed. AG Leventis Foundation, Nicosia, Cyprus 1997, ISBN 9963-560-30-X , chap. B.XI.16., S. 157-185 ( pdf, 152MB ).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ UNESCO World Heritage Center: Painted Churches in the Troodos Region. In: whc.unesco.org. Retrieved June 24, 2017 .
- ↑ Andreas and Judith A. Stylianou 1997, p. 180.
Coordinates: 34 ° 57 ′ 55.8 ″ N , 33 ° 0 ′ 25.6 ″ E
