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The First Vaulted Churches in Cyprus

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The First Vaulted Churches in Cyprus The First Vaulted Churches in Cyprus charles anthony stewart University of St. Thomas, Houston he transition from wood roofs to stone vaulting Five barrel-vaulted churches survive in Cyprus: the Pan- marks a watershed moment in medieval architec- agia Chrysiotissa (Afentrika), Asomatos church (Afentrika), tural history. In the West this change took place Agia Varvara (Koroveia), Panagia Afentrika (Sykhada), and T 5 over course of the Romanesque period in Spain or northern Panagia Kanakariá (Lythrankomi). They are concentrated Italy.1 In the East scholars generally agree that vaulting co- on the northeastern panhandle known as the Karpas Penin- incided with the shift from longitudinal to centrally planned sula (Figure 1). This narrow stretch of land lies about 45 buildings during the reign of the Emperor Justinian I (482– miles south of the Anatolian coast and 60 miles west of Syria. 565).2 This simple explanation would be sufficient if not for Unfortunately these basilicas are in a poor state of repair; all the conspicuous absence of Justinianic-type churches outside are in ruins, and their frescos are disappearing. Preservation the imperial cities of Constantinople and Ravenna.3 It seems and systematic excavations could place these monuments that the building innovations of Justinian’s architects had in their rightful place in architectural history.6 Until then, limited impact on structural design, including vaulting, in the this article offers observations and new evidence toward a eastern Byzantine provinces. For example, the Nea church plausible construction sequence and chronology; as dem- in Jerusalem and St. Catherine’s at Sinai, although both onstrated here, eighth-century builders on Cyprus experi- sponsored by Justinian, were constructed as traditional mented with different ways of vaulting longitudinal space wood-roofed basilicas.4 Another case in point, the island of and developed designs that became hallmarks of Cypriot me- Cyprus did not have centrally planned churches until the late dieval architecture. eleventh century. However, several Cypriot basilicas were refitted to support barrel vaults in the eighth century. Since these structures have longitudinal ground plans, the shift to Early Christian Churches on Cyprus vaulting on Cyprus cannot be associated with the develop- Over the past forty years many ancient churches have been ments that took place in Constantinople. They exemplify the excavated on Cyprus. All sixty-five known Early Christian localized history of a different construction technology. churches, dating from the late fourth to mid-seventh cen- tury, display the same traits: they have at least three aisles 7 Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 69, no. 2 (June 2010), 162–89. ISSN divided by colonnades supporting wood roofs. In this pe- 0037-9808, electronic ISSN 2150-5926. © 2010 by the Society of Architectural Historians. riod there are no centrally planned, domed, or vaulted All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions web- buildings. The conservative nature of Cypriot church build- site, http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintInfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/jsah.2010.69.2.162. ing can be explained by the insular character of the Church. JSAH6902_02.indd 162 4/16/10 4:12 PM Figure 1 Map of Cyprus indicating principal sites of the eighth century. See JSAH online to view Cyprus in Google Maps During the First Council of Ephesus (431) the Cypriot arch- Agios Spyridon (Tremithous) and Agios Mamas (Morphou), bishop was granted autocephaly, meaning that he was not preserved the layout of their original wood-roofed struc- subject to any outside patriarch. The Cypriot Church could tures, but their imported marble colonnades were replaced maintain its own internal appointments and customs. Be- by square-piered arcades made of local stone.9 In these two cause of its independent and powerful hierarchical system, cases, the walls, apses, floor mosaics and opus sectile, and heresies such as Arianism and Monophysitism did not affect liturgical furnishing were reused after the renovations. By Cyprus as they did other Byzantine provinces. Likewise, its recycling the shell of the damaged church and using local church architecture was not affected by outside influence. materials, Cypriot builders were able to renovate quickly. The island possessed both limestone quarries and vast cedar Around this same time experiments in barrel vaulting were forests that could supply the main materials for traditional conducted on the Karpas Peninsula. basilica construction. Other materials used for decorating Today the peninsula is remote, barren, and sparsely the interior of churches, such as marble columns, opus sec- populated, however in the late fourth century it had thriving tile, and tesserae, could be imported from other provinces cities, deep harbors, and thick forest. One of the island’s by ship, across the Mediterranean Sea. twelve bishops resided on the peninsula in the city of Car- The Cypriot Church’s three-hundred-year building tra- pasia. This see was founded by Epiphanius (320–403), the dition was disrupted in 649, when the Arab armies invaded. archbishop of Salamis-Constantia, who appointed his disci- From that time until the Byzantine reconquest of 965, the ple Philon as its first bishop.10 The architecture of the early island was a neutral state within the political sphere of both fifth-century cathedral now known as Agios Philon repeated the Arab Caliphate of Damascus and the Byzantine Empire. the layout of other Early Christian basilicas on the island, This era is referred to here as the “period of Cypriot neutral- having three-aisles, three apses, and wood roofs. These el- ity.”8 Sometime after the initial Arab raids, seven churches ements are also evident at other early churches nearby, in- were rebuilt in a slightly different manner. Some, including cluding Agia Trias (Yialousa) and the Panagia Kanakariá T h e F i r s T Va u lT e d C h u r C h e s in Cyprus 163 JSAH6902_02.indd 163 4/21/10 1:50 PM (Lythrankomi).11 These structures exhibit how Early Chris- testifying to a large population during the Hellenistic and tian architecture fared in the Middle Byzantine period on Roman periods. The principal ruins today consist of four this part of the island. At Agios Philon, the cathedral was buildings: the Panagia Chrysiotissa, the Asomatos church, abandoned in the seventh century and subsequently rebuilt Agios Georgios chapel, and Prophitis Elias.15 Seven feet as a cross-in-square church in the eleventh century. The northeast of the Panagia church is a large archway leading sixth-century church of Agia Trias was destroyed in the mid- to a subterranean rock-cut tomb. Within are several Hel- seventh century and never rebuilt. In contrast, the sixth- lenistic arcosolia niches cut into the walls, later inscribed century Panagia Kanakariá was damaged in the seventh with crosses, and on the floor are scattered remains of Afri- century and subsequently reconstructed as a barrel-vaulted can red-slip pottery (Figure 3). Since the sixth century basilica. church was partially constructed over this tomb, it would Near the Panagia Kanakariá church, four other wood- seem that the ancient necropolis was later converted to a roofed Early Christian basilicas were transformed into Christian shrine.16 Such a concentration of churches indi- barrel-vaulted structures. In order to carry heavy vaulting, cates that Afentrika was a major cult center in the early cross-shaped piers replaced aisle colonnades. The new fea- Middles Ages. tures of this scheme—square imposts, round transverse The Panagia Chrysiotissa currently is a small single- arches, and windowless clerestories—became key features in aisle chapel, probably rebuilt in the sixteenth century, to Cypriot church architecture. The best-preserved examples, judge from its pointed arches, vaulting, and rounded spring- the Panagia Chrysiotissa and the Asomatos church, are lo- ing corbels.17 Its name means “the Virgin of Gold,” perhaps cated at the site of Afentrika, five miles east of Carpasia. referring to a lost decoration or icon. Surrounding this cha- pel are the ruins of an earlier Early Christian basilica that was refitted to support a barrel vault (Figure 4). The nave apse The Panagia Chrysiotissa (Afentrika) and southern aisle wall still stand to a height of 8 feet. In The ruins of Afentrika lie near the north coast of the Karpas Georgios Soteriou’s 1935 photograph, portions of the south- Peninsula. Rising over the site is an acropolis where either ern aisle’s barrel vaulting are shown intact; however by 1946 a temple or citadel once stood (Figure 2).12 In 1889 David this had fallen, as documented by A. H. S. Megaw.18 Hogarth proposed, based on his reading of Diodorus of Sic- The Early Christian church (first phase) was a three- ily (first century BCE), that Afentrika was a later town built aisled wood-roofed basilica with three apses (Figure 5). It had from the ancient city Urania (Ουρa´νιa).13 Since there are the same general layout as the Early Christian churches of no other ancient harbors in the area, Hogarth’s hypothesis Agia Trias (Yialousa) and Agios Philon (Carpasia).19 From its is still plausible.14 Today vast numbers of pottery shards are external wall surface, the Panagia Chrysiotissa’s ground plan found, spread from the coast to the ridge of the acropolis, measured 55 by 75 feet (17.6 × 24 m, not including the apses). Figure 3 Panagia Chrysiotissa, Cyprus, sixth-century entrance of the Hellenistic subterranean rock-cut tomb, later converted to a Christian Figure 2 Schematic map of Afentrika (Urania), Cyprus shrine, looking northwest (author’s photo) 164 jsah / 69:2, june 2010 JSAH6902_02.indd 164 4/16/10 4:12 PM Figure 4 Panagia Chrysiotissa, exterior view, looking east (author’s photo) Its three apses were connected by passages, a shared feature of the island’s earliest churches.20 The nave arcades had seven columns carved from local limestone with responds at each end.
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