Agios Demetrios Cathedral, Mystras, Greece

One of the most important churches of Mystras is the Cathedral of Agios Demetrios, built in 1280- 1292. It is the oldest church in the city.

This church has a mixed architectural style: on the one hand it has a three-aisled basilica with a narthex and a bell tower, built in the 13th century on the ground floor, and on the other hand, the upper floor is a cross-in-square church, added in the first half of the 15th century. Its interior is decorated with wall paintings in many different styles. This is where the last Byzantine emperor, Constantinos Paleologos, was crowned in 1449.

References:

www.greeka.com

User Reviews

Bruno Bilo' (2 years ago)
Sito archeologico fantastico. Faticoso ma vale ogni goccia di sudore

Roxane Glt (3 years ago)
quite a lot of climbing but you can buy cheap water bottles and the place is so beautiful! When at the top, the view is simple breathtaking.

Geert Loosveld (3 years ago)
Magnificent place at its best without crowds; very hot & dry, no shadow, bring hiking shoes

Nancy Gavakou (3 years ago)
A church you must visit

brian king (5 years ago)
This looks like an amazing ancient city. It's probably spectacular. It would be fantastic if the employees decided to, you know, put on their big boy pants and go to work. Sadly I traveled to Sparti just to see this site. I've hung out for two days waiting for it to be open to view. There is only a sign behind the locked gate saying that it's closed because the employees opted to not work today. Constant flow of visitors leaving disappointed. What a disservice (withholding expletives). I don't know what to tell you other than set aside a week in Greece just to try everyday hoping it will be open one of them.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Peer.Gynt

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Saint Sophia Cathedral

The St Sophia's Cathedral was built between 1045-1050 inside the Novgorod Kremlin (fortress). It is one of the earliest stone structures of northern Russia. Its height is 38 m. Originally it was taller, for during the past nine centuries the lower part of the building became concealed by the two-metre thick cultural layer. The cathedral was built by Prince Vladimir, the son of Yaroslav the Wise, and until the 1130s this principal church of the city also served as the sepulchre of Novgorodian princes. For the Novgorodians, St Sophia became synonymous with their town, the symbol of civic power and independence.

The five-domed church looks simpler but no less impressive than its prototype, the thirteen-domed St Sophia of Kiev. The cathedral exterior is striking in its majesty and epic splendour evoking the memories of Novgorod's glorious past and invincible might. In the 11th century it looked more imposing than now. Its facade represented a gigantic mosaic of huge, coarsely trimmed irregular slabs of flagstone and shell rock. In some places (particularly on the apses), the wall was covered with mortar, smoothly polished, drawn up to imitate courses of brick or of whitestone slabs, and slightly coloured. As a result, the facade was not white, as it is today, but multicoloured. The play of stone, decorative painting and the building materials of various texture enhanced the impression of austere simplicity and introduced a picturesque effect.

The two-storied galleries extend along the building's southern, western and northern sides, with a stair-tower constructed at the north-eastern corner. The cathedral has three entrances - the southern, western and northern, of which the western was the main one intended for ceremonial processions. A gate standing at the entrance is known as the Sigtuna Gate (mid-12th century); according to legend, it was brought from the Swedish town of Sigtuna in 1187. The second name of the gate derives from the town of Magdeburg, where it was made. The two leaves are decorated with biblical and evangelical scenes in cast bronze relief. In the lower left corner there are portraits of the craftsmen who created this superb specimen of medieval Western European bronze-work. An inscription in Latin gives their names, Riquin and Weissmut. The small central figure - judging from an inscription in Slavonic - is a representation of the Russian master craftsman Avraam, who assembled the gate.

There is yet another bronze gate in the cathedral, called the Korsun Gate. Made in the 11th century in Chersonesos, Byzantium, it leads from the southern gallery into the Nativity Side-Chapel. Legend has it that the gate was handed over to Novgorod as a gift of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (c. 978 - 1054).

The interior of the cathedral is as majestic as its exterior. It is divided by huge piers into five aisles, three of which end in altar apses. In the south-western corner, inside the tower, there is a wide spiral in relatively small, modest buildings of the 12th - 16th centuries.

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