The church of Agioi Apostoloi
Agioi Apostoloi
(the Church of the Holy Apostles) is located in the western part of the
historic centre of Thessaloniki, near the west wall and the now destroyed
Litaia Gate.
The church was the
catholicon of a monastery. Surviving structures include part of the once
imposing tower-shaped portal to the southwest, and a large cistern
to the northwest, the size of which attests to the large number of monks living
there, and by extension to the monastery’s wealth. According to tradition, the church
takes its name from the popular belief that it had a twelve-domed roof
symbolizing the apostles, though the subject matter of the frescoes in the peristyle
reveals that it must initially have been dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
The catholicon
was built from 1310 to 1314 under the sponsorship of Patriarch Niphon I, as
attested by the inscription above the entrance, the monograms on the capitals
of the west facade and the ceramoplastic inscriptions on the west and
south sides. The second founder referred to is Paul, abbot and former pupil of
Niphon, who is depicted praying before the Virgin Mary above the entrance
leading from the narthex to the nave. Circa 1520-1530 the monastery was
converted into a mosque. The mosaics and frescoes were covered with plaster once
the gold background tesserae had been carefully removed. The building was restored
to Christian worship following the liberation of Thessaloniki in 1912.
The Holy Apostles
is a composite cross-in-square church with a narthex and Π shaped peristyle. This ends in two chapels to the east, and has
four low domes in the corners. The east side is dominated by the large
seven-sided sanctuary niche, flanked by smaller three-sided conches forming the
Prothesis and the Diaconicon . The exterior features finely
constructed elements typical of Paleologan architecture (numerous arches,
conches and brick half columns ). Inside, refined proportions combined with a
variety of morphological elements make for a superbly balanced and
sophisticated composition.
Remains of the
interior decoration include mosaics and frescoes of exceptional historical and
artistic value. The mosaics were sponsored by Patriarch Niphon, who apparently
intended to decorate the lower sections with marble revetments . The
Pantocrator is depicted in the central dome, surrounded by ten full-length
prophets. Lower down, the figures of the four Evangelists still survive, alongside
scenes from the Dodecaorton depicted in the arches: the Nativity, the
Transfiguration, the Entry into Jerusalem, the Resurrection, the Crucifixion and
the Assumption. Together with the mosaics in the Chora and Pammakaristos
monasteries in Constantinople, those in the Holy Apostles are the latest
examples of such decoration in Byzantium, numbering among the sublimest
manifestations of Paleologan art.
Niphon was ousted
from the patriarchal throne in 1314, and thus could not complete his ambitious
plan. The decorations were supplemented with equally high quality frescoes in
the lower parts of the nave, the narthex, the peristyle and the north chapel
dedicated to John the Baptist, bearing scenes from the Old and New Testaments,
and subjects either inspired by hymnography or of a symbolic nature. The wall
paintings date to the late 1410s, and have
been linked to the abbacy of Paul, the second founder.
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