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The narthex occupies the entire width of the church and on the north side it has a partially saved two-storey staircase that was leading to the basilica’s galleries. Moreover, it communicates, on the one hand, with the side aisles through two arched doors and, on the other hand, with the central aisle through a large tribelon with two columns of green marble from Thessaly. The central aisle is separated from the side ones with two colonnades, each consisting of twelve monolithic columns. The latter are crowned with Theodosian capitals, which were made specifically for this basilica and have common features with those from the Monastery of Stoudios in Constantinople. These capitals are made of marble from the island of Prokonessos, while the floor of the central aisle is made from the same material, too. Initially there were stone parapets between the columns. The sanctuary to the east has a large semicircular niche, in the center of which there is a tri-lobe (initially five-lobe) window with built piers. Moreover, there was a synthronon and the Episcopal throne. The marble iconostasis is modern, while traces on the floor reveal that the original one ended at the third column from the east. A monolithic marble ambone was found in the church, though not in its original position but embedded in the narthex’s masonry. The scholars date it from the 5th to the 7th century. The walls have rows of multi-lobe windows on both floors of the building and they were constructed using various materials, such as slates, bricks, plaster or even marble spolia from early phases of the church. The annex buildings of the church comprise a porch and two chapels. The monumental porch is formed in the middle of the south side leading to the Byzantine Leoforos. It encloses parts of walls from the roman bath, it has an almost rectangular plan, a barrel vault as ceiling and a pitched roof. To the east of the porch and appended to it and the church, there is today a chapel dedicated to St. Paraskevi. At first, scholars identified it as the basilica’s baptistery, while more recent studies identify it as the church’s diaconicon. Originally it must have had mosaic ornamentation to a great extent, as a preserved fragment indicates. The north aisle of the church leads to the east side to a, formerly two-storey, Middle Byzantine chapel dedicated today to St. Irini. Recently traces of frescoes were found there. As for the internal decoration, high quality mosaics can be seen today a) in the colonnade intrados on the ground floor and south gallery, b) in the narthex and c) in the window of the west wall. They are only a part of the original ornamentation that had the celestial paradise as its central theme. They depict crosses, geometric patterns, plant and animal motifs, bowls, baskets and other themes with religious symbolism, in a symmetrical arrangement. Recent stylistic analyses push forward the date of the mosaics in the period from the 470s until the first quarter of the 6th century. Inscriptions, found on the intrados of the central and south arch of the tribelon, tell us about the sponsor of the mosaics (and maybe the basilica), a certain Andrew. Scholars suggested that he was a priest that took part in the Council of Chalcedon in 451, but according to the latest studies, he is probably an Archbishop of Thessaloniki. In the south nave, on the wall above the colonnade, frescoes dated in the 13th century are poorly saved but still visible. They depict eighteen from the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, shown either in full length, in profile and full face, or in busts, in medallions. In 1430, immediately after the fall of Thessaloniki to the Ottomans, Acheiropoietos was the first church to be converted into a mosque. Indeed, the conquest of the city is recorded in an Ottoman inscription on the eighth column in the north colonnade. Another intervention of the Muslims in the building was the addition of a minaret in the southwest corner that was demolished after 1912. Murad II probably chose this church for its location at the very heart of the city. From then on the new mosque was simply called “Camii” and it was, till some point, the only one for the Friday prayer. At the beginning of the 16th century the “Camii” was mentioned in documents as “The old mosque”. Nevertheless, the old name “Acheiropoietos” remained in use for some time after the Ottoman conquest, since it indicated the quarter all around the church. In 1912, when the building was reconverted into a church, it didn’t get the original name (Church of Theotokos) but the one mentioned from at least 1320, Church of Acheiropoietos. In general, travellers of the ottoman era were not mentioning the Acheiropoietos frequently in their journals, since the backfilling had raised the ground level, the houses were almost attached to the church and it was not easily seen. The intense seismic activity in the region along with certain structural weaknesses of the building, led several times during its history to horizontal movement of the columns and the upper parts of the masonry, some parts of which have collapsed. The building survived from at least three earthquakes, in the 7th century, in the late Byzantine or early Post-Byzantine era and in 1978. These disasters have resulted to a number of repair operations to the monument. Studying the structural joints and the different building styles, four phases are distinguished. The first three date back to the Byzantine or Post-Byzantine era, while the last one dates to the beginnings of the 20th century. After being a shelter for refugees from Asia Minor, the church was returned to worship in 1930, after 500 years. The latest consolidation and restoration work was completed in the first years of the 21st century. In general the Acheiropoietos church is one of the most well preserved early Byzantine monuments and one of the most important examples of its kind in Thessaloniki and the whole of Ελλάδα. The intense seismic activity in the region along with certain structural weaknesses of the building, led several times during its history to horizontal movement of the columns and the upper parts of the masonry, some parts of which have collapsed. The building survived from at least three earthquakes, in the 7th century, in the late Byzantine or early Post-Byzantine era and in 1978. These disasters have resulted to a number of repair operations to the monument. Studying the structural joints and the different building styles, four phases are distinguished. The first three date back to the Byzantine or Post-Byzantine era, while the last one dates to the beginnings of the 20th century. After being a shelter for refugees from Asia Minor, the church was returned to worship in 1930, after 500 years. The latest consolidation and restoration work was completed in the first years of the 21st century. In general the Acheiropoietos church is one of the most well preserved early Byzantine monuments and one of the most important examples of its kind in Thessaloniki and the whole of Ελλάδα. Διαστάσεις (Ύψης, πλάτος, βάθος): 23.49m,45.12m,56.98m (bounding box) Materials:pantile, stone, brick Λέξεις κλειδιά:Churches, Monasteries, Monastery, Katholika, Late Byzantine, Oriental Orthodox,Christianity,Orthodox Church
Χαμηλής ανάλυσης μοντέλο: 50K Facets - Μέγεθος εικόνας υφής:2048^2 Mεσαίας ανάλυσης μοντέλο: 131K Facets - Μέγεθος εικόνας υφής:4096^2 Yψηλής ανάλυσης μοντέλο: 560K Facets - Μέγεθος εικόνας υφής:8192^2 Ανάλυση: ~3cm (ανάμεσα σε γειτονικές κορυφές - πλήρη δεδομένα)
                                                
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Πνευματική Ιδιοκτησία Ερευνητικό Κέντρο Αθηνά. Όλα τα δικαιώματα διατηρούνται. Το έργο 3D ICONS χρηματοδοτείται από την Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση
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