Oi Toichographíes tes Palaiás Metropóleos Véroias (12ος–14ος αι.)
By (author) Euthymios N. Tsigarídas
Veria’s Old Cathedral is one of the most splendid Byzantine monuments in all of Greece and the Balkans, both for its architectural type and for the very significant decoration that, beneath a protective covering of plaster, survived the centuries of Turkish occupation, and in particular the period in which the church was converted into a mosque (1433 or 1566-1574). The surviving painted decoration in the large (34.70 x 20.45 m) three-aisled basilica with transept of the Old Cathedral in Veria belongs to five separate periods, from the first, second and fifth of which very little remains, while frescos of the third and fourth periods, which are of high artistic quality, cover most of the church’s mural surfaces. More specifically, the frescos of the third period (1222-1229) form a strikingly extensive body of work, unique in that period and of fine quality, whose art presents parallels with survivals of Late Comnenian painting and direct artistic kinship with expressions of the new monumental style represented by the frescos in the churches of Acheiropoietos in Thessalonice (1220-1230), Agios Ioannes Theologos in Veria (ca 1230), and especially of the Mileševa monastery (1228-1234) in Serbia, whose painted decoration embodies the artistic environment of the city of St Demetrios. Equally impressive are the extent and artistic quality of the body of frescos corresponding to the fourth period of the church’s decoration, which belong to the beginning of the second decade of the 14th century, the most representative being those of the prothesis, and which as a whole express the monumental painting of Thessalonian workshops (Protaton, katholikon of the Vatopedi, Agios Panteleimon Thessalonice), while at the same time displaying an artistic kinship with the work of known masters from the city, such as Georgios Kalliergis (churches of the Anastasis of Christ in Veria and Taxiarches in Thessalonice) and Michael Astrapas (chapel of Joachim and Anna at Studenica).
Veria’s Old Cathedral is one of the most splendid Byzantine monuments in all of Greece and the Balkans, both for its architectural type and for the very significant decoration that, beneath a protective covering of plaster, survived the centuries of Turkish occupation, and in particular the period in which the church was converted into a mosque (1433 or 1566-1574). The surviving painted decoration in the large (34.70 x 20.45 m) three-aisled basilica with transept of the Old Cathedral in Veria belongs to five separate periods, from the first, second and fifth of which very little remains, while frescos of the third and fourth periods, which are of high artistic quality, cover most of the church’s mural surfaces. More specifically, the frescos of the third period (1222-1229) form a strikingly extensive body of work, unique in that period and of fine quality, whose art presents parallels with survivals of Late Comnenian painting and direct artistic kinship with expressions of the new monumental style represented by the frescos in the churches of Acheiropoietos in Thessalonice (1220-1230), Agios Ioannes Theologos in Veria (ca 1230), and especially of the Mileševa monastery (1228-1234) in Serbia, whose painted decoration embodies the artistic environment of the city of St Demetrios. Equally impressive are the extent and artistic quality of the body of frescos corresponding to the fourth period of the church’s decoration, which belong to the beginning of the second decade of the 14th century, the most representative being those of the prothesis, and which as a whole express the monumental painting of Thessalonian workshops (Protaton, katholikon of the Vatopedi, Agios Panteleimon Thessalonice), while at the same time displaying an artistic kinship with the work of known masters from the city, such as Georgios Kalliergis (churches of the Anastasis of Christ in Veria and Taxiarches in Thessalonice) and Michael Astrapas (chapel of Joachim and Anna at Studenica).
- By (author) Euthymios N. Tsigarídas
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