The fortifications

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The palaces: The topography of the hill greatly influenced the spatial organization of the Pano Chora (Upper Town) in Mystras. The despots’ palaces were built on the large natural plateau in the north section, with a square laid out in front. To the south, the incline allowed for the construction of what were mainly wide-fronted mansions and small auxiliary buildings. The palace complex occupied the edge of the plateau, up to the brow of the precipice, so as to dominate the city and have the widest possible view out over the Eurotas valley. The complex included the seat of the State Administration and accommodation for the despots, the court and the guard. In front of the palace was a rectangular piazza measuring over half an acre – unprecedented by imperial city standards, this was probably a conscious imitation of the squares in late medieval Italian cities, and may well have been the venue for the renowned annual fair. However, it was not level and did not have a guaranteed water supply; at some unknown time a small tank named after a Cantacuzenus was set up in the southwest corner. The palace complex was not the result of a single concept, nor was it built as a unified construction project. The L-shaped ground plan consists of several structures built sequentially from the mid-13th to the mid-15th century. According to Anastasios Orlandos, who first carried out restoration work and brought the palaces to the fore, Buildings A and B in the north wing are those from the Cantacuzenus period of government. Building A had a large vaulted hall on the ground floor, a wooden roofed upper floor and a four-storey tower on the west side. The pointed limestone arches in the ground and upper floor windows were of the type commonly found in western architecture, and allow us to surmise that the building may have been founded before the castle was handed over to the Byzantines in 1262. The small domed Building B was probably auxiliary, since it had underground water rainwater tanks, a cooking hearth and laundry facilities on the ground floor. Building C in between A and B must have been built after the mid-4th century; it stood four-storeys high and had wooden floors and fireplaces in the south-east corner of the top two floors. Building D is likewise contemporary with the first period of the Palaeologan administration of Mystras, and was probably the main living quarters of the despot and his family. It was a two storey building with rooms on the ground and first floors, and a balcony on the north side ending in a row of piers with modillions on the top of the parapet. The room layout changed at least twice, while the balcony pillars were strengthened at a later time. One interesting feature is a private chapel in a first floor room, with a small arch in the east corner. The latest of the buildings is E, a large oblong structure occupying the west side of the square, possibly built in the first half of the 15th century. The basement had vaulted storage areas. The slightly elevated ground floor was divided into eight oblong rooms that housed the guard or auxiliary staff; each of these had a private entrance, cabinets in the walls and a hearth at the back. The first floor was a large single room 10.5 metres wide with a hipped ceiling. The long sides of the hall had large single - light windows decorated with Western influenced lancet-type stone frames. In the centre of one long side there was a niche for the despot’s throne; along the long side overlooking the square there was a wide balcony supported by a row of piers in front of the ground floor and the basement.
The church of the Virgin Mary Pantanassa: The Monastery of Pantanassa, which dominates the eastern edge of the fortified enclosure, was the last church building project in the city. It was founded in 1428 by the second in command of the Despotate, protostrator John Frangopoulos, as revealed by the dedicatory verse inscription in the western dome of the gallery and monograms in various parts of the church. The walled area extended eastward from the median wall between the Lower and the Upper City of Mystras. At the lowest, most prominent point, the Byzantine dignitary funded the construction of a so-called “Mystras type” church, combining a three nave basilica on the ground floor with a cross-in-square church on the upper floor. The two-storey building is surrounded by a tall, slender bell tower and two porticos arranged in an L-shape, though the western one has not survived. At the same time, numerous decorative elements are tastefully combined on the building’s faces. The variety of decoration is most apparent on the east side and the four-storey bell tower. The monument shows strong western influence and confirms the eclectic character of 15th century architecture in Mystras. On the inside, apart from the reused sculptures and the 17th-18th century frescoes on the ground floor, the galleries and the upper building are covered in excellent 15th century paintings, which echo those in Hodegetria (Aphentiko) and Peribleptos. As a whole, they are among the most important creations in the last phase of Palaeologan painting. One of the narthex vaults has a funerary portrait of the Byzantine ruler Manuel Lascares Chatzikes, who an inscription records as passing away in 1445. On his head he is wearing a hat similar to that worn by Emperor John VIII Palaeologus.
The church of Panagia Hodegetria or Aphentiko: The Church of Panagia Hodegetria (Our Lady of the Way) or Aphentiko is the new catholicon of Vrontochi Monastery, abutting the massive walls in the north-western part of the lower city of Mystras. It was built in around 1310 by an energetic abbot named Pachomius. According to two chysobulls painted in the southwest chapel, he managed to secure imperial grants of considerable lands in the Peloponnese and a lifetime appointment as head of the monastery.Hodegetria is a large, imposing two-storey building that shows architectural innovation: while the upper part is a five-domed cross-in-square church with a narthex and galleries, the ground floor is a basilica divided into three naves by arched colonnades. This church type, known as the "Mystras mixed type", was used for other monuments in the vicinity (Pantanassa, Agios Demetrios). The nave is built of roughly hewn stones with occasional rows of brick, and was probably originally plastered. The east side of the building retains its original form and exhibits stylistic elements similar to those of contemporary monuments in Constantinople. The sanctuary apse and pastophoria are divided into zones with windows and blind (bricked up) arches. In the upper zone, low, flat niches with double brick arches complete the exterior decoration. The church was surrounded by porches arranged in a pi-shape, covered with hemispherical domes. The south porch was converted into a burial chapel in the 14th century, when the openings in the ground floor were walled up and turned into burial niches. Two additional chapels were created at either end of the narthex, and a further two at ground level in the north porch. The three-storey bell tower to the south of the west portico is built of cloisonné masonry. On the outside, the upper level is separated from the ground floor by a marble cornice, and has triple-light windows adorned with brick arches. Higher up, the tower’s exterior appearance is complemented by shallow blind niches.The interior decoration was sumptuous, combining sculpture decoration, marble revetments and wall paintings. Only a few pieces of the sculpture decoration and rare revetments have survived. The wall paintings date to different periods; some fragments are visible in the nave, along with better preserved sections in the chapels. In the main church, the frescoes dating to the 1410’s are obviously the work of painters from Constantinople. They depict an extensive Christological cycle, martyrs and saints in the side aisles, prelates and deacons in the sanctuary, and patriarchs, prophets and apostles in the galleries. The compositions in the chapels reveal the personality of Pachomius, the founder. In the so-called chrysobull chapel in the south-west, four angels are holding a mandorla around a now lost depiction of Christ, from which beams of light descend by divine hand, holding the chrysobulls of Emperors Andronicus II Palaeologus and Michael IX. Pachomius is buried in the northwest chapel, where successive rows of saints’ choruses are depicted praying to Christ; Pachomius appears on an arcosolium on the western side, offering a model of the church to Our Lady. On the north side is the tomb of Despot Theodore I Palaeologus (1384-1407). According to his burial mural, he became a monk and took the name Theodoretos.The southeast chapel is probably dedicated to the Three Hierarchs. The decoration in it is later, and depicts the vision of Agios Ioannis Euchaita (St. John, Bishop of Euchaita), which when interpreted led to the establishment of a joint feast day for Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom. The frescoes can be dated to 1366 on the basis of the monogram above the chapel entrance, representing Cyprianus, Episcopal Vicar and Abbot. Finally, the frescoes in the south portico date to later in the 14th century; the portico served as a burial place for rulers, as is evidenced by scenes in the dome, burial paintings of a noble named Kaniotis and his wife in the west arcosolium, and of another officer on the northern wall.Under Ottoman rule the church served as a mosque before being abandoned. In the early 19th century, columns were removed from the colonnade to be used elsewhere, while the central part of the dome and galleries collapsed.
The city: Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, was built on the site of the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium, on the triangular peninsula formed by the Golden Horn, the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara. This was an excellent location that controlled trade routes linking the Aegean to the Black Sea. Emperor Constantine founded Constantinople in 330 AD as a city to rival Rome in splendour, wealth and power. The city grew fast, leading to problems of space and facilities, so Theodosius I extended it to the west by building new strong walls that protected Constantinople until the end of the Byzantine Empire. The city was laid out after Rome. A main road, the Mese Odos, linked the palace to the Golden Gate. On this road was the Forum, a circular plaza with a statue of Constantine mounted on a column, surrounded by public buildings. Theodosius I and Arcadius later built more forums decorated with their own statues. Following the Nika riots in the 6th century, Justinian adorned Constantinople with magnificent edifices, palaces, baths and public buildings. This time also saw the construction of Agia Sophia (the Holy Wisdom), the church which served as the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate throughout the Byzantine period. During the 7th and 8th centuries Constantinople faced major problems that threw it into disarray: attacks by the Avars (a siege in 674) and Arabs (attacks in 674 and 717-718); natural disasters (a powerful, destructive earthquake in 740); and epidemics (plague in 747). Limited building activity resumed in the 8th and 9th century, mainly concentrated on strengthening the city's fortifications. With the recovery of the Byzantine Empire from the 9th to the 11th century, Constantinople became the most populated city in Christendom; the majority of inhabitants were Greek-speaking, but many other ethnic groups lived alongside them, such as Jews, Armenians, Russians, Italians merchants, Arabs and mercenaries from Western Europe and Scandinavia. Many public, private and church-owned buildings were erected at the time, with an emphasis on establishing charitable institutions such as hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages and schools. Higher education flourished, thanks to the care of the state and the emergence of important scholars. This renaissance lasted until the mid-11th century, when economic problems due to poor management set in, compounded by the adverse outcome of imperial operations beyond the borders. The Crusaders left Constantinople entirely unscathed when first passing through, but in the Fourth Crusade of 1204 the Franks conquered and ransacked the city, slaughtering those inhabitants they did not take prisoner or drive out. In 1261 the city was retaken by Michael VIII Palaeologus, who rebuilt most of the monuments and the walls but proved unable to restore the city to its former splendour and glory. Enfeebled as it was, the empire was incapable of checking the advance of the Ottomans, and in 1453 Constantinople finally fell into their hands. The fall signalled the end of the empire. Nevertheless, the Byzantine intellectual tradition remained significant, as many scholars settled in the Venetian dominions of Crete and the Peloponnese, as well as in European countries, conveying Greek learning to the West.

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