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Panayia Kastrianon : The Katholikon of the Monastery of Hosios Christodoulos at Palio Pyli, on the Island of Kos

Articles

• Ανδρουδής, Πασχάλης
• Ντιντιούμη, Σοφία
• ΑΝΔΡΟΥΔΗΣ, Πασχάλης
• ΝΤΙΝΤΙΟΥΜΗ, Σοφία

Hosios Christodoulos of Mt Latros founded a monasteryat Pilion on Kos in 1080. Eight years later he left for Patmos,where he founded a new monastery, dedicated to St. Johnthe Theologian. Archaeological and historical research, interpreting his autobiographical texts, suggests that thechurch of the Panayia at Palaio Pyli on Kos is to be identifiedwith the church of the Panayia ton Kastrianon, the katholikon of his monastery on the island.The katholikon is preserved in the south-east corner of themonastery; the south wall and the apse of the church formpart of the monastic enclosure (Figs 1 and 2). In the southwall, to the west of the main church, is a series of cells (Fig. 3).Remarkable for its simplicity (a rectangular barrel-vaultedstructure with a single apse at its eastern end), the churchhas a postern narthex (Fig. 4). Architectural spolia insidethe naos indicate that a great deal of recycled material wasused in the "reconstruction" of the church mentioned byChristodoulos.The naos is a single-aisled building. Six columns, three oneach side, support the barrel-vaulted roof and at the sametime front three arched recesses that extend into the thickness of the long walls (Fig. 4). Within the apse is preserved asynthronon (Fig. 5), fact that does not necessarily suggestthat the building is Early Christian, since a large numberof churches that date from the Byzantine period possesssynthrona. The typology of the church is typical during theMiddle-Byzantine period in the islands of Aegean Sea, inCyprus and in Asia Minor.

• Arts
• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία
• Θρησκεία

11th century, Dodecanese, Kos, Palio Pyli, architecture, catholicon of Panayia tou Kastrianon

• http://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/deltion/article/view/4370
• http://dx.doi.org/10.12681/dchae.635