The main church (katholikon) of the Monastery of Hosios Loukas in Boeotia (Central Greece), founded slightly after 1000 and maybe finished before 1030 is one among the most renowned examples of the so-called Greek cross domed octagon type or – more precisely – “compound octagon domed”. Although quite foreign to the local Helladic architectural practices and traditions, the model met with a certain success across the Greek provinces of the middle Byzantine empire. Some plain evidence of this could be found even in nearby major centres: as a matter of fact, one may easily observe the church of the Panagia Lykodemou in Athens (built after 1044) having been designed according to a layout overtly influenced by that of the katholikon. Still, considering the church buildings I would like to discuss in this paper, it appears that occasionally there is something more than simple imitation of formal features at work. Since its early evolution to a wealthy and powerful owner of large agricultural estates, the monastery’s governance prompted the deployment of dependencies (metochia), intended to help in attaining a more effective control of its lands. Three of such dependencies were established at a relatively short distance from the motherhouse, with small monastic communities appointed to rule them on the spot. These are the metochion near Antikyra (Gulf of Corinth), Hagios Loukas of Aliveri in the island of Euboea and Hagios Nikolaos at Kambià (Orchomenos, Boeotia). The latter monastery is the only one which survived, its main church still standing today, while the other two are either archaeologically documented or known by means of literary sources and fragments of their marble liturgical furnishing. I will use the metochion of Antikyra as an interesting clue to discuss what follows: Being small monasteries, these metochia had their own katholika built as quite similar micro-replicas of that of Hosios Loukas, implying even the adoption of some peculiar features of the prototype – e.g. the funerary crypt of the “founder”-saint – which, at a first glance, would seem to be of no use outside Hosios Loukas itself. This does undoubtedly represent a definite – self-conscious – step toward a more literal or even mechanical reproduction of original architectural layouts, taken together with their intended or alleged functions, for the sake of ‘shaping the identity’ and drawing out the lineage of the new building complexes.

Aspetti della riproduzione di modelli nell'architettura mediobizantina. Il Katholikon di Hosios Loukas e i suoi metochia / Taddei, Alessandro. - (2020), pp. 377-404.

Aspetti della riproduzione di modelli nell'architettura mediobizantina. Il Katholikon di Hosios Loukas e i suoi metochia

Taddei, Alessandro
2020

Abstract

The main church (katholikon) of the Monastery of Hosios Loukas in Boeotia (Central Greece), founded slightly after 1000 and maybe finished before 1030 is one among the most renowned examples of the so-called Greek cross domed octagon type or – more precisely – “compound octagon domed”. Although quite foreign to the local Helladic architectural practices and traditions, the model met with a certain success across the Greek provinces of the middle Byzantine empire. Some plain evidence of this could be found even in nearby major centres: as a matter of fact, one may easily observe the church of the Panagia Lykodemou in Athens (built after 1044) having been designed according to a layout overtly influenced by that of the katholikon. Still, considering the church buildings I would like to discuss in this paper, it appears that occasionally there is something more than simple imitation of formal features at work. Since its early evolution to a wealthy and powerful owner of large agricultural estates, the monastery’s governance prompted the deployment of dependencies (metochia), intended to help in attaining a more effective control of its lands. Three of such dependencies were established at a relatively short distance from the motherhouse, with small monastic communities appointed to rule them on the spot. These are the metochion near Antikyra (Gulf of Corinth), Hagios Loukas of Aliveri in the island of Euboea and Hagios Nikolaos at Kambià (Orchomenos, Boeotia). The latter monastery is the only one which survived, its main church still standing today, while the other two are either archaeologically documented or known by means of literary sources and fragments of their marble liturgical furnishing. I will use the metochion of Antikyra as an interesting clue to discuss what follows: Being small monasteries, these metochia had their own katholika built as quite similar micro-replicas of that of Hosios Loukas, implying even the adoption of some peculiar features of the prototype – e.g. the funerary crypt of the “founder”-saint – which, at a first glance, would seem to be of no use outside Hosios Loukas itself. This does undoubtedly represent a definite – self-conscious – step toward a more literal or even mechanical reproduction of original architectural layouts, taken together with their intended or alleged functions, for the sake of ‘shaping the identity’ and drawing out the lineage of the new building complexes.
2020
Maḥabbatnāma. Scritti offerti a Maria Vittoria Fontana dai suoi allievi per il suo settantesimo compleanno
978-88-97622-69-7
architettura; monastero; Hosios Loukas; arte mediobizantina; Grecia
02 Pubblicazione su volume::02a Capitolo o Articolo
Aspetti della riproduzione di modelli nell'architettura mediobizantina. Il Katholikon di Hosios Loukas e i suoi metochia / Taddei, Alessandro. - (2020), pp. 377-404.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1466978
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