Ο ναός του Παντοκράτορος στο Μοναστηράκι Βονίτσης (εικ. 1-2, πίν. 99-110)
Part of : Δελτίον της Χριστιανικής Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας ; Vol.28, 1981, pages 357-378
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Pages:
357-378
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The Church of the Pantokrator at Monastiraki near Vonitsa (fig. 1-2, pl. 99-110)
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Articles
Abstract:
The church of the Pantokrator, 2 km. south of the village of Monastiraki, in Acarnania (PI. 99 - 101, Fig. 1), was originally a two-columncross-in-square building, with three three-sided apses, a narthex, lateralchapels flanking the sanctuary and a U-shaped ambulatory surrounding the South, West and North side (Fig. 2) ; it measured 18.30x 16.80 m.The structure has undergone disastrous repairs; small portions ofthe original masonry subsist in the East and West façades, larger onesin the long sides ; almost nothing remains of the original vaulting. Theprothesis, diakonikon and western corner bays were presumably roofedwith domical vaults ; the central bay of the narthex was perhaps roofedwith another domical vault, the lateral ones with barrel-vaults. Thechapels and ambulatory are contemporary with the main church;only their foundations survive (PI. 105), except for two piers and onecolumn of the South loggia (PI. 99a, 100). The ambulatory was probably roofed with cross-vaults, domical vaults and barrel-vaults, resting onpilasters on one side and on piers and columns on the other one (Fig. 2).The lower part of the original masonry is faced with splintered stone,with horizontally laid bricks in the joints; the upper one with cloisonné, with one brick in the horizontal joints and two in the verticalones. Three sawtooth bands decorated the North façade, one only theSouth one. Between the central and North apse are preserved brickslaid at right angles and a disepsilon frieze (PI. 102ß, 103ß), reminiscent of the ones in the narthex of St. Theodora (PI. 107ß) and theParegoretissa in Arta. Interlace brickwork decorated the South wallof the narthex (PI. 103a) and a disepsilon frieze the West side of theSouthwest pier of the ambulatory (PI. 102γ). A cornice of re-usedmarble reliefs decorates the apses at sill level (PI. 108).Symmetrical lateral chapels and ambulatories do not appear in Epirus and Acarnania before the second half of the 13th cent, and shouldbe ascribed to the influence of the capital. The church of the Pantokrator should be dated to the end of the 13th or the first decades ofthe 14th cent, and cannot therefore be identified with the katholikonof the monastery ton Spketon, mentioned in a letter which John Apokaukos sent about 1220 to the bishop of Vonitsa.
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