THE CHRISTIAN BASILICA OF OUR LADY ON THE ACROPOLIS AT ATHENS

THE CHRISTIAN BASILICA OF OUR LADY ON THE ACROPOLIS AT ATHENS
The end of the antiquity found the Acropolis at Athens in a very bad state of preservation. Once the center of the ancient Greek culture and art, Athens was now a mere province. The monuments of the Acropolis have suffered heavily during the barbaric invasions and most of them were burned together with the city in 267 AD. Some of the monuments were repaired after a long time of neglectance, and the city was surrounded with the smaller circuit of walls built chiefly with the reused spolia of the damaged buildings. This fortification encircled only l/12 of the original area of the city. The only moment of hope came when the roman emperor Julian the Apostate briefly revived pagan religion in the period between 360-364. In that period the Parthenon was reconstructed. When the pagan religion was finally banned, the Parthenon was probably abandoned for a time. It was easy to transform the great temple into a Christian basilica, which was later altered in l2. Century, when many of the original parts were removed or altered. This basilica was later transformed into a moshee which was finally blown up in l687. The last remains of the basilica were removed during the clearing of the ruins of the temple around l850. Today it is possible to reconstruct the picture of the Christian basilica only through the careful interpretation of the written sources, scattered membra disiecta and few graphical representations. The Parthenon was built over the site which was previously occupied by several earlier temples and it was built with the extensive reuse of the material which remained unused from the previous unbuilt temple, the first marble Parthenon whose building was interrupted very soon because of the Persian invasion of the Athens. The periclean Parthenon was built in remarkably short period, between 447-438 BC, with the use of the many architectural members which were already prepared for its predecessor. The architects were Iktinos and Kallikrates, and their project was the peak in the development of the Doric order. Main innovation were the octastyle facade, extensive use of the Ionic order in the interior-high ionic columns which supported the marble ceiling of the west chamber, and the very rich sculptural decoration program on the whole building. Both pediments comprised more than 5o colossal statues, Doric frieze over the outer colonnade included 92 metopes carved in the very high relief, an Ionic frieze surrounded the inner building, an amphiprostyle hexastyle temple, this frieze was 160 m long, and another Ionic frieze surrounded the inner side of the trabeation of the pronaos. There were very rich acroterial statues at the both ends and the culmination was the huge chryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos in the east chamber. Another innovation was the introduction of the huge windows which illuminated the east chamber and the statue within it. The statue was surrounded with two- story Doric colonnades from three sides, the upper column were monolithic. The west chamber had four colossal ionic columns which supported the marble ceiling. The building was more or less intact; there is evidence for the repairs after several earthquakes, until 267 AD when the Acropolis was burned together with its monuments. The whole wooden superstructure of the Parthenon collapsed in the interior of the temple, it was 48o cubic meters in volume, and burned there for days, inflicting the heavy thermal damage to complete interior structures in the east chamber, while the west chamber was partially protected by its marble ceiling which prevented the burning superstructure to collapse down immediately. The ruins were eventually cleared, but the temple was left unroofed for almost a century. The repairs were commenced during the reign of the emperor Julian the Apostate and were done with the technical skill and the possibilities of the time. The main problem was the decline in the building technique and the lack of the skilled workman. Thus, the easiest way to obtain the necessary architectural elements was to reuse the elements of some already existing buildings. Two Doric stoas, contemporary with the stoa of Attalos II, which flanked the street that led from the Roman agora to the east were systematically dismantled and reused for the rebuilding of the interior colonnades of the Parthenon and the stoa in Asclepion too. These columns were much smaller than the original, so it was neccesary to superimpose tho orders of the columns together with their entablatures, what was against all canons of the classical Doric order. Many heavy damaged sections of the walls and floors were chiseled off and sheeted with the plates of new marble. Damaged capitals of the columns of the pronaos and opistonaos were completed with the stucco reinforced with the iron pins. Only the inner building was roofed again, while the peripter was left unroofed, the channels were drained for the drainage of the rainfall. With the dusk of the paganism, it is most probable that the temple was eventually abandoned. It is known that the new statue of the Athena Parthenos was in position until 430 AD, when it was transported to Constantinople and the temple was left empty. The way for the transformation of the ancient temple was left open. The series of imperial edicts, first the Edict of Theodosius I, which forbade the pagan religion, issued 397; Decrees of Theodosius II- Codex Theodosianus XVI, l0, 25;concearning pagan temples and their conversion into the churches were followed with the final blow- the closure of the Athenian school of philosophy in 529. The transformation took place most probably under the reign of Justinian. There is no concluding evidence for this hypothesis, but the first certain evidence comes from the next century. The transformation was very easy because the original plan of the temple comprised all the elements necessary for the basic architectural plan of a basilica. The western chamber became a narthex, while the opistonaos was screened off and transformed into a pronartex. A section of the western chamber was screened off with the delicately carved panels and transenes and used as a baptistery. Three doors were pierced in the dividing wall and the necessary connection between the narthex and naos was provided. East chamber became the naos and the east door was blocked off with the semicircular apse. Until recently it was believed that this transformation took place after the destruction during the barbaric invasion, but the recent investigation of the dispersed material on the ground proved that the east doorjambs were repaired with the interpolation of the new doorjambs built of reused blocks from various monuments on the Acropolis, what is clear evidence that the building was used as a pagan temple for a period. Other important changes were piercing of the three other doors in the west chamber. A small door were pierced to the south of the main west door, and another were pierced in the north and south wall providing direct access to the staircases which led to the galleries over the aisles of the east chamber-naos. Galleries were interpolated over the marble crossbeams which connected the new internal colonnades with the walls. The baptistery was rectangular and was separated with the elaborately carved screens. The baptismal font was created with the extraction of one floor plate, and the hole obtained by this extraction was surrounded with the uprightly set marble blocks. For the practical reasons, the central column of the lower tear of the western internal colonnade of the east chamber, which obstructed the view to the altar was removed and substituted with an interpolated arch. At first, all walls were whitewashed and eventually covered with the frescoes, some of which were preserved until the beginning of the 2o. Century. On the west wall of the narthex, few medallions with the representations of the saints are still visible on some old photographs. Today, only the representation of the annunciation is still visible to the south of the great west door in the opistonaos. The original wax impregnation of the preserved marble surfaces, which was originally used as the coating for the ancient coloring, today gives us the precious evidence, because hundreds of the graffiti were inscribed onto the surfaces through a long period of time. These graffiti give the clear evidence about the historical changes of the rank of the Church. It is known that before the year 841, the Episcopal see of Athens was elevated to the status of the archiepiscopy, and before 981, to the status of the metropolitan see. Altogether, 23o graffiti are preserved on the surfaces of the columns and the walls of the Parthenon, and they are especially concentrated beside the small lateral door in the west wall what is clear indication that these doors were used as a main entrance for a long period. Almost another hundred of graffiti is preserved on the walls of the Propylaea. All these graffiti are the precious evidence about the importance of the Parthenon and the Acropolis and their fate through the history. Sometime in tenth century, the lateral door in the west wall ceased to function as the entrance; this is indicated with the absence of the later graffiti .In the south part of the pronartex-opistonaos, the spiral staircase was erected. Its walls were built with the reused marble blocks from the dismantled monument of Philopapos on the nearby hill of Pnyx, while the interior staircase was built in the purely Byzantine technique of brickwork. This tower was built up to the level of the roof, and possibly it was never finished. The building of this tower can be connected with the pilgrimage made by the Byzantine emperor Basil II in l0l8, after his victory over the Bulgarian tsar Samuil. The graphic representations show the tower with the minaret built over it. This staircase gave the access to the structure built over the beams of opistonaos whose function remains unclear, and to the attic of the narthex. The great enigma is the way how the ceiling of the narthex was supported. Today, only some small fragments were positively identified as the remains of the original ionic columns of the west chamber. But it is quite possible that the marble ceiling partly protected the chamber from the burning roof and that these columns remained in function even after the fire. There is also a late description where is clearly indicated that the roof was supported with the four great columns, one of which is cracked and reinforced with the wall. This might be the case with the northwest column which was encased within the partition of the baptistery. In the west chamber there are clear indications that the repairs were done clumsily and in great haste. The grooves still preserved in the floor indicate that the new west door were installed wrongly and that it was very difficult to move them and the grooves were chiseled off in the floor as an attempt to ease their movement, but with each new cutting it was more and more difficult to move the door. Finally, the great door was left permanently open and on the outer side of the west wall, a new smaller door was installed, leaving the upper part open what gave much more light to the interior. Many blocks from the destroyed monuments were used to reinforce the crumbling structures of the building, especially the heavily burned lintels over the east and west door. The northern part of the east wall was very weakened by the fire because it contained the hidden inner staircase which originally led to the attic of the ancient temple. The semicircular apse was built in front of the great east door and it had the raised floor up to the level of the first course of the wall above the orthostates and the syntronon along the wall. On many places, the slabs of the floor were extracted and the burials took place. This is the picture of the temple before the great reconstruction of l2. Century. Under the Nicolaos Haghitheodorites, Metropolitan of Athens between ll66-ll75, church was reconstructed for the second time, partly for the practical reasons, partly because of the bad state of some of its parts. The most important alternation was the demolition of the first apse and the northern half of the east wall down to the orthostates and the building of the new polygonal apse in the pronaos. The building of this apse involved many complicated technical interventions including the dismantling of the central architrave and the central slab of the outer ionic frieze together with the overlying ceiling beams. The removal of the architrave and the frieze block was done successfully, but the removal of the ceiling beams was difficult and caused the collapse of the whole central part of the east pediment together with the statues. Earlier, it was believed that these statues were deliberately removed much earlier, but now it seems that after the damage done to the statues of the east pediment the weakened statues of the west pediment were reinforced with an interpolated brick arch in order to prevent their collapse. Until recently it was believed that the most of the damage to the statues and reliefs of the Parthenon was done in the early medieval period. However, only the metopes were damaged, all on the east and west side, and all but one on the north, the westernmost was spared because it was interpreted as the representation of the meeting of Mary and Elisabeth. Southern metopes were almost invisible because the whole plateau was clustered with the houses and there were not too many opportunities to walk along the south side and see the trabeation. Careful examination of the dispersed material on the ground gives the clear evidence of the nature of the great reconstruction of the 12. Century.
Blocks of the dismantled part of the east wall were re-cut and used as the material for the building of the new apse. The original lintelns of the east door were re-cut and used as the bases for the byphoras of the new apse; one of these bases is still preserved on the ground. The south window remained, and on the north a new window was constructed in order to provide the lightning to the north gallery. The complete roof of the naos was raised on the higher level and the Pergamene colonnades were overbuilt with a wall in order to support the new, higher roof with the bigger inclination. The walls of the naos were also overbuilt for a cca 1 m height and on that level the new roof started. This is clearly visible on an engraving done before l67o by anonymous author, today in Bonn Kunstmuseum. Three windows were pierced in the north and south wall. For that purpose, a slab of the frieze was extracted together with the overlying ceiling beam. These sections are indicated in the Carrey drawings with the word “venter”. These windows are clearly visible on the engraving of l67o.According the descriptions by Babin and De la Guiletierre, a vault was constructed over the main aisle. The vault constructed with brick was not likely to be built because if the great span which had to be vaulted, but the wooden vault is quite plausible to be constructed. De la Guiletierre also mentions the flat roof over a part of the building, as a “voute plate” what might be the description of the flat ceiling over the side aisles. The opistodomos was screened off ant transformed into a pronarthex and the colonnades of the peripter were mostly built in for the most of their height, thus creating a kind of an ambulatory. The internal arrangement was the result of the long series of additions and alternations. There were altars in the sanctuary and the side recesses of the apse. The central altar had a ciborium, bases of whose columns were recently discovered. The easternmost part of the nave was separated with the low marble screen with the panels and columns, many fragments were recognized recently. The floor of the screened area was higher, and the floor of the apse was even higher because a cistern for the water was interpolated under its floor. There were several rows of seats along the walls of the apse and in the middle of the uppermost was the marble throne, just under the central byphora. There were four repositories arranged along the syntronon. A circular marble ambo stood to the left of the apse, and this ambo, supported on short columns was seen and described just before the great explosion, as the platform from which the Koran was read. After the seizure of Athens in the fourth crusade, the church became an archiepiscopal cathedral, whose status was approved by Papal Bull of 1206.There is evidence that the small belfry was built at the west end. In l38o, Neri Acciaioulli of Florence became the owner of the Acropolis. When he died in 1394 he was buried in Parthenon, and also had donated the city of Athens to the church of Santa Maria di Atene. The description by Nicolo di Martoni gives the important information about the rich equipment of the church, specially mentioning the valuable gold and silver vessels, mosaic of Our Lady in the apse and the ciborium among the other things. In 1458, the age of Christianity came to its end, and the Our Lady gave her place to the Allah. The cathedral was transformed into a Moshe most probably during the visit of Mehmet II, conqueror of Constantinople, to Athens. The frescoes were whitewashed, but the great mosaic of Our Lady in the apse constantly protruded through the layer of the lime. This symbol of Christianity was present when the temple-church-Moshe was blown in the explosion in l687. It was the end of a chronicle; it was the time when the Parthenon became the legend.
ENDNOTE
This is the brief text which corresponds to the discussions that the author held during his occasional meetings with the restoration staff of the Parthenon, especially with Prof Dr Manolis Korres, Head of the restoration team, and this text is based on the many information personally told. Chief literature is the Studies for the restoration of the Parthenon published since l983. The first study was published as the general outline of the history and the preliminary project for the restoration. Volls 2a and 2b are related to the problems of the restoration of the pronaos and were published in l989. The studies 3a, 3b and 3c are related to the problems of the restoration of the opistonaos and were published in l994. Study vol 4 deals with the problem of the restoration of the west wall and incorporated remains of other monuments .Study vol 5 deals with the problems of the restoration of the long walls. All these studies were published for the international meetings for the restoration of the Acropolis monuments held in Athens in l983, l989, and l994. Another important publication is the monograph “Restoration of the Acropolis” published in London in l994. Also important is the catalogue of the exhibition held in Osaka in l998 under the title “Parthenon”. This exhibition is now touring through the Europe under the auspices of the Foundation for the Hellenic culture. The definitive monograph about the restoration of the Parthenon will be published after the works are finished. The main innovation in this article is the conclusion that the destruction of the east pediment happened much later than it was earlier believed.

IMPORTANT BIBLIOGRAPHY
l. Manolis Korres Meleti apokatasteos tou Parthenonos, vol l, Athens l983
2. Manolis Korres Meleti apokatasteos tou Parthenonos, volls 2a, 2b, Athens l989.
3. Manolis Korres Meleti apokatasteos tou Parthenonos, vol 4, Athens l994
4. Manolis Korres and others Parthenon and its impact in history, Melissa, Athens, l994
5. Manolis Korres, and others Parthenon, catalogue of the exhibition in Osaka, Athens, l998
6. Proceedings of the international meetings on the restoration of the Acropolis monuments published in l983, l989, l994.
7. Proceedings of the Parthenon Congress in Basel, published in l984
8. A Orlandos. Arhitektoniki tis Partenonos, vols l -3, Athens l977-78
9. Manolis Korres from Pentelikon to the Parthenon, history of one Doric capital, Melissa, Athens, l996
lo. Manolis Korres Der explosion der Parthenon, Athens l992.

ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Reused columns from the Pergamene stoa in the interior of the Parthenon with the interpolated arch. Author, Manolis Korres, published in l994.
2. Overall plan of the Christian basilica, author, Manolis Korres, published in l992
3 .Fragment of the inscription from the apse, photo Peter Koufoupoulos
4. Transverse section and plan of the basilica according to John Travlos, published in Arhaiologoki Ephimeris, l973.
5. Plan of the west part of the basilica with the screened pronarthex and baptistery, situation before the staircase was interpolated.
6. Annonimuos author View of the Acropolis in l674.
7. Lower part of the interpolated staircase in the opistonaos built with the blocks extracted from the destroyed monument of Philopappos, photograph by Manolis Korres
8. Crosssection of the interpolated staircase, drawing by Charalambos Bouras, published in Archaiologiki ephimeris l960.
9. Ground plan of the same staircase, source as above
lo. Reconstruction of the ambo of the basilica, drawn by Manolis Korres, published in Meleti l, l983.
ll. Drawing of the remains of the fresco beside the west door
l2.Reconstruction drawing of the apse of the second basilica, drawing by Manolis Korres,l983
l3 drawing of the Parthenon in l67o,today in Bonn Kunstmuseum
l4. Reconstruction of the Parthenon before the explosion, drawing by Manolis Korres, l983.
l5.The unique photograph representing the last remains of the Byzantine apse, photographed in 1859, prior to the demolition during the clearing work in the first restoration campaign.




Sažetak

Tijekom povijesti, Partenon, glavni hram na atenskoj akropoli, doživio je više pregradnji i razaranja. Sam današnji Partenon, zapravo je posljenji u slijedu hramova koji su sukcesivno gradjeni na istom mjestu. Mnogi arhitektonski dijelovi ranijih gradjevina otkopani su za vrijeme arheoloških iskapanja u l9. stoljeću, a mnogi su i ugradjeni u sjeverni potporni zid platoa Akropole. Današnji Partenon remek je djelo arhitekata Iktinosa I Kalikratesa koji su hram gradili pod umjetničkom supervizijom glasovitog atenskog kipara Fidije koji je bio i autor čitavog skulptoralnog programa Partenona a lično je vajao glasovitu hriselefantinsku statuu Atene Partenos koja se nalazila u istočnom svjetištu hrama. Prvo veliko razaranje Partenon je pretrpio tijekom barbarske invazije plemena Herula 267. godine NE, kada je Partenon spaljen, unutrašnjost istočnog svjetišta u potpunosti uništena, a svi drugi dijelovi hrama oštećeni. Partenon je rekonstruiran tek za vrijeme vladavine Juliana Apostate u periodu 36o-364.NE i to u granicama tadašnjih tehničkih mogućnosti. Demontirana su dva trijema blizu rimske agore i njihovi stupovi ponovno upotrebljeni u unutrašnjosti Partenona. Nakon odnošenja statue Atene Partenos u Konstantinopolis 43o. NE, hram je praktično ostao napušten. Najvjerovatnije je pretvoren u kršćansku baziliku polovicom šestog stoljeća na taj način što su u pregradnom zidu izmedju istočnog i zapadnog svetišta otvorena troja vrata a zapadno svetište je preuredjeno u narteks sa odvojenim baptisterijem u sjeverozapadnom uglu. Istočna ulazna vrata u hram su zazidana i na njihovom mjestu je sagradjena polukružna apsida. Svi zidovi su obijeljeni vapnom, a u nekadašnjem opistonaosu je kasnije otpočeta izgradnja kule sa spiralnim stubištem uz uporabu blokova razgradjenog spomenika Filopapusa. U samom naosu su izgradjene galerije duž bočnih ladja.Na zidovima i stupovima hrama sačuvan je ogroman broj ugrebanih natpisa koji svjedoče o brojnim posjetima i dogadjajima u hramu.U periodu izmedju 1166-1175, uslijedila je nova rekonstrukcija hrama kojom su obuhvaćeni naos i apsida. Veći dio istočnog zida je srušen, kao i apsida i nanovo izgradjen. Apsida je zamijenjena poligonalnom apsidom koja je imala bifore na tri strane. U apsidi je bio uzignut pod sa spremištem za vodu ispod, više redova sjedišta bilo je izgradjeno duž zidova apside, a prijesto se nalazio ispod centralne bifore. Cijela bazilika je oslikana freskama, od kojih su do danas dočli samo tragovi, a postojao je i ambon čiji su fragmenti nedavno otkriveni. Centralni dio naosa je presveden lakim , vjerovatno drvenim svodom. U ovom obliku bazilika je ostala praktično sve do eksplozije l687. godine, a poslednji tragovi kršćanske apside uklonjeni su za vrijeme radova sredinom 19. stoljeća. Sliku o bazilici u Partenonu danas možemo steći samo zahvaljujući strpljivom radu na interpretaciji starih grafičkih i literarnih opisa kao i brojnih fragmenata sačuvanih na Akropolisu i u muzejima.