Continuing on with our occasional considerations of Byzantine churches and some of the similarities we can find within them of the earlier churches of both East and West in the first millennium, today we turn to the Byzantine church of Panagia Kapnikarea (the name itself is interesting insofar as "Panagia" comes with reference to the Virgin Mary, while "Kapnikarea" is believed to be a reference to an ancient Byzantine smoke tax, possibly coming with reference to the profession of the particular patron who is believed to have financed the church's construction).
We are, in point of fact, fortunate that this church has still come down to us at all as it has been subject to attack and potential demolition on more than one occasion. The church is estimated to have been built around the year 1050 or so, and the exterior is classically 'Byzantine' (or 'Eastern Roman' if you prefer) following models that were also in strong evidence throughout ancient Constantinople.
The interior similarly follows a classic Byzantine cross-in-square plan, capped by a central dome with an image of Christ Pantocrator. Generally the interior follows a fairly typical Byzantine iconographic scheme, rooted in the period of the later middle ages onward.
The church also features some classical beautiful hanging lampada of the type that are often described in ancient descriptions of Hagia Sophia around the time of Justinian.
Everything, so far, is all very "Eastern" -- specifically, later medieval Byzantine -- but what I would really like to draw our readers attention to is the beautiful stone balustrade which separates the presbytery from the rest of the church.
It is this liturgical feature that really begins to unite East and West, for as we've pointed out before, the later medieval rood screens of the West and the iconostases of the East, all seem to be derived from these (relatively) simpler stone balustrades. Rather than being filled with icons, paintings or gothic tracery however, simpler stone screens such as these (still so clearly in evidence as well in Roman churches like S. Maria in Cosmedin), were what were used, and ancient descriptions often tell us that curtains -- like those you still see in use here -- were instead utilized.
Of course, it is remarkable that all of the main openings within the screen have not been filled with panelled icons (like you see directly above), but certainly additional iconography has been added at some later time.
I thought it would be of interest to once again approach a digital mock up to approximate what this screen might have looked like in its earlier configuration, prior to it being turned into more of a later iconostasis model. Here is the result:
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| Digital reconstruction by LAJ |
Obviously some of the particular details here are not going to be entirely accurate, but the point here is simply that when we strip away the later iconographic accretions, we can gains a better sense of the commonalities that can are to found here in churches of the Roman empire, be they Western or Eastern.
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