Una chiesa perduta e il suo committente nella Bisanzio paleologa: S. Giovanni a Selymbria e il parakoimomenos Alessio Apocauco

This study presents a comprehensive examination of the interplay between art and society in Pal-aiologan Byzantium by analysing a paradigmatic instance of aristocratic patronage on the outskirts of Con-stantinople. The focus is on the now-lost Church of St. John in Selymbria (modern Silivri, near Istanbul), commissioned by the parakoimomenosand megas douxAlexios Apokaukos (c. 1280-1345), a key figure in the empire’s tumultuous history during the early 14th century. Following its conversion into a mosque shortly after the Ottoman conquest (1462-1463), the building had deteriorated into ruins by the late 19th century and vanished entirely after World War I. Nonetheless, a “virtual” reconstruction of the church is feasible through a comparative analysis of its surviving elements, little known historical photographs, descriptions made by 19th-century travellers and archaeologists, and a collection of capitals bearing the monograms of Alexios Apokaukos currently preserved in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. This renewed scrutiny of the Church of Selymbria not only illuminates the patron’s engagement with the arts, but also reinstates the church’s significance within the Palaiologan architectural tradition.