- Church of Saint Nicholas Orphanos
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Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessalonika * UNESCO World Heritage Site
The Church of Saint Nicholas OrphanosCountry Greece Type Cultural Criteria i, ii, iv Reference 456 Region ** Europe and North America Coordinates 40°38′N 22°57′E / 40.633°N 22.95°E Inscription history Inscription 1988 (12th Session) * Name as inscribed on World Heritage List
** Region as classified by UNESCOThe Church of Saint Nicholas Orphanos (Greek: Ἅγιος Νικόλαος ὁ Ὀρφανός) is an early 14th-century Byzantine church in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki.
Contents
Location
The church is located in the northeastern corner of the old city, just inside the eastern wall, between the Irodotou and Apostolou Pavlou streets.[1]
History and description
The church's name, "Saint Nicholas the Orphan", is first attested in the 17th and 18th centuries, and presumably refers to its otherwise unknown ktetor (founder). From its interior decoration, the building is dated to the period 1310–1320. The church originally formed part of a monastery, traces of which (remnants of a gate) survive to the east.[1][2]
The church was originally built as a simple, single-aisled edifice with a wooden gabled roof. Later, aisles were added on three sides. They form an ambulatory, under whose floor several graves have been found. The masonry features irregular layers of brick and stone, with a few ceramics on the eastern side and brick decoration on the eastern and western sides. In the interior, the central aisle is connected to the others with double openings decorated with reused late antique capitals. The church's original marble templon survives.[1][2]
The church is most notable for its frescoes, contemporary with the church's construction, which cover almost the entire interior surface. The frescoes are an example of the Thessalonican school at the height of the "Palaiologan Renaissance", and their creator may be the same who decorated the Hilandar monastery in Mount Athos in 1314. The church has been linked to the Serbian king Stephen Uroš II Milutin (r. 1282–1321), who is known to have sponsored churches in the city, on account of the depiction in the main aisle of St George Gorgos, the Serbian ruler's patron saint, and of St. Clemens of Ohrid, a favourite motif of the Serbian churches.[1][3]
The monastery continued functioning throughout the Ottoman period. The frescoes were uncovered in 1957–1960 during restoration works.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e "Ναός Αγίου Νικολάου Ορφανού" (in Greek), Hellenic Ministry of Culture, http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/gh251.jsp?obj_id=473, retrieved 2010-04-21
- ^ a b Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991), Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, pp. 1471–1472, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6
- ^ Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991), Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, p. 1472, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6
External links
Media related to Church of Saint Nicolas the Orphan, Thessaloniki at Wikimedia CommonsWorld Heritage Sites in Greece North Aigai · Mount Athos · Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessalonica: (Hagios Demetrios, Arch and Tomb of Galerius, Hagia Sophia, Church of Panagia Chalkeon, Church of Saint Nicholas Orphanos, Church of the Holy Apostles, Church of the Acheiropoietos, Monastery of Latomos, Church of Saint Panteleimon)
Central Delphi · Epidaurus · Hosios Loukas · Meteora · Mycenae and Tiryns · Mystras · Old Town of Corfu · Olympia · Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae
Attica Aegean Islands
and CreteCoordinates: 40°38′16.07″N 22°57′22.77″E / 40.6377972°N 22.956325°E
Categories:- Buildings and structures in Thessaloniki
- Tourism in Greece
- Byzantine churches of Thessalonica
- World Heritage Sites in Greece
- 1310s architecture
- 14th-century church buildings
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