The Byzantine Church of Panagía Gorgoepíkoös in Athens, Greece, is a unique little structure. In terms of its size, it is quite tiny, likely to only hold a hundred worshippers at most, but what it lacks in size it certainly makes up for in charm.
As mentioned, the apse of the church includes an image of the Theotokos and in addition to this, the dome of the church includes a beautiful frescoed image of Christ Pantocrator.
Finally, as we like to do in these churches, I thought we'd explore what the church's interior, specifically the balustrade, might have looked like prior to the contemporary additions. With that in mind, we've created this digital approximation:
In part we do these digital exercises out of curiosity, but also in part to highlight the architectural and liturgical unity that can be found between Christian East and West if we dig just a little bit beneath the surface.
The dating of the church is disputed, with dates ranging from the ninth through thirteenth century, and follows the classic Byzantine cross-in-square plan.
Interestingly, the exterior of this church is compromised of copious amounts of spolia -- architectural elements taken from earlier structures. This spolia ranges from other medieval bits (which raises some of the questions about the church's dating), all the way back to components salvaged and repurposed from buildings of classical Greek antiquity. Roman churches are, of course, famous for their use of spolia, but this particular Byzantine church takes its use to a whole other level. Here is just a small taste of some of it:
 |
| Amongst the various spolia seen here, you can see remnants of a Corinthian capital |
 |
| A classical Greek figure set between two crosses |
 |
| Parts of a coffered ceiling visible on the left |
The interior of the church was formerly covered in medieval frescoes, but today these are mostly absent, with only two frescoes to be found, one in the apse and one in the dome. The plan, as you'll see, is very compact and very simple.
The church notably includes a beautiful balustrade separating the presbytery from the nave. This particular screen follows the model of the unified first millennium Church of both East and West -- though with some later additions of course -- utilizing hanging curtains instead of icons to complete the enclosure of the screen. (For those curious about the symbols on these contemporary curtains, please see our article about gammadiae.)
Finally, as we like to do in these churches, I thought we'd explore what the church's interior, specifically the balustrade, might have looked like prior to the contemporary additions. With that in mind, we've created this digital approximation:
 |
| Digital approximation of the church as it might appear with a first millennium style balustrade, absent of later features of the iconostasis. |
Overall this is a very simple structure, but it is extremely appealing and demonstrates how much can be done with a very little good design.
-------
Do you like Liturgical Arts Journal's original content? You can help support LAJ in its mission and vision to promote beauty in Catholic worship either by:
You choose the amount! Your support makes all the difference.
