Summary
Mamaloukos Stavros, The Church of Vergin Mary in Genna, Eastern Thrace
The Church of Virgin Mary in Genna, Eastern Thrace
The church once devoted to the Assumption of Virgin Mary in Genna (today 's Kaynarca) in Eastern Thrace still remains essentially unknown to science despite its imponance. The monument has been entered in the Greek bibliography but never has it become known to the specialists. The monument has been somewhat more promoted to the cientific world through po t-war Bulgarian bibliography. Yet because it is mentioned that it was located in a village with the same name with Genna [Яна (Jana) in Bulgarian] in the surroundings of Sofia, serious misunderstandings have been created and because of them various groundless hypotheses have been made. Evidence from sources for the church's earlier history is not known. It seems that in 1714 the church was repaired and received an addition, which is mentioned in the sources as a "newer wooden church". This addition was burnt in 1877. In 1912-1913 the church seems to have been still in relatively good condition. Yet its northern part had already collapsed. After the expulsion of the Greeks in 1922 the monument gradually deteriorated. Even though only about half of the church of Virgin Mary is preserved no problem seems to rise in the representation of its initial form. It regards a small (7.00 X 7.60m) cross in square church without a narthex. Its interior space was symmetrical to both its axis. The four arms of the cross were covered by barrel vaults. All four comer departments were covered witl1 barrel vaults arrayed along the length and were separated from the western and the eastern arm of the cross with walls that had arched openings. The building had rather a heavy exterior as it roofs probably displayed small crescendos in height. The dome' drum was exteriorly cylindrical. The church ·s elevations appeared heavy with low proportions. At the eastern elevation the three-semi-cylindrical conches of the altar absolutely dominated. The composition of the western elevation and of the two side elevation are defined by absolute symmetry. Each elevation was articulated with three blind arches with a simple indentation. a tall one in the middle and two shorter ones, one on each side. The walls of the church were built out of stone with very few pieces of brick. TI1e arches of the arched openings and of the blind arches as well as the fronts of the barrel vaults were made of meticulously carved porous voussoirs. The domes were made out of rough stone tiles. The windows' lintels were made of entire pieces of limestone where in some cases low arches are formed. Typologically the church in Genna belongs to the category of cross in square churches for which the term "Greek transitional" has prevailed. The fact that the vast majority of the up to now known examples of this variation in cross shaped churches is found in southern Greece and in the Aegean islands. has lead newer scholars to the view that the "Greek transitional" not only inhabits these areas of the Byzantine Empire but that it al o first appeared there. The detection of a "Greek transitional" church in Eastern Thrace at a minimal distance from Constantinople is of grand interest t0 the research on the origin and the diffusion of this variation of the cross in square church. In reexamining the matter one can observe that the existence of examples of this variation. Few as they may be. in the greater area of Macedonia and today's Bulgaria. in Asia Minor but now also in the close vicinity of the capital, seems to lead to the conclusion that the variation not only wasn't unknown but perhaps was not as rare as it is believed even in areas further north in the Empire. This view is se1iously reinforced when observing that the sheltering of the corner departments with uniform barrel vault arranged along the length is also very common among churches or other variations other than the cross shape variation, but which can indirectly, thanks to the form of their sheltering, be related with the "Greek transitional" ones i.e. the simple four column and two column ones, in these areas and others as well. Besides, the sheltering with longitudinal barrel vaults is frequently found and in other numerous cross in square churches, the corner compartments of which are separated from the arms of the cross via arches or walls. Based on the above, the idea that the "Greek transitional'' variation was developed in southern Greece should probably be abandoned as it should also be the case for Great Bulgaria and maybe it should be linked with the general development of the cross in square that has origins that seem far wider and older. The church of Genna is also very interesting from the construction and morphology view-point. The articulation of the western. northern and southern facades with the tall blind arches places the monument in the so called "School of Constantinople". Yet many other morphological and structural features refer to other idioms of Byzantine architecture like the so called "Oriental" and the "Pre-Greek school" examples of which are found, as it seems, in the entire Balkan peninsula. Asia Minor, the islands and in the early monuments of the Constantinople area as well. Most of these features go back to the Earl Christian architectural tradition which formed the common basis for the development for the regional mid-byzantine architecture. Based on its typological, morphological and structural elements the church of Virgin Mary in Genna can be considered to be a building of the 10th or of the early 11th century.
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου