The church of the Holy Cross is situated in the village Pelendri- the Limassol district- in the mountains of the Troodos mountain range. Since 1985 this church has been recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site. Dating from the 12th until the 19th century the frescoes preserved are exceptional examples of Byzantine art.
Timios Stavros Pelendria
Timios Stavros Pelendria
|Duration: 45 minutes|
|Lectures: 4 Lectures|
|Video: 1 Video|
|1 Quiz & Comprehension Questions|
The current form of the church of the Holy Cross is due to various additions and interventions. Initially, around in the mid-12th century, a single-aisled church with a dome was built and that was probably a cemetery church. At a given moment this first building was destroyed (the real cause is unknown) and only the arch was preserved which also became part of the new church of the 13th century. Gradually, parts of the church that had been destroyed were reconstructed. Later and well before the mid-14th century the north aisle was added while the south aisle was added in the 16th century. The final result is a three-nave building with harmonious proportions that do not let you understand the turbulent architectural history.
According to the inscription preserved in the apse of the sanctuary, the original illustration of the church dates back to 1171/2. The whole church was decorated in the 14th century. Two painters who followed different styles worked for the painting of the temple. The first painter, influenced by the era of Paleologos painting, painted the dome of the church with the Pantocrator and the Evangelists in the pendentives. In the 16th century a second painter painted the portraits of the donors on the southern wall near the iconostasis. The frescoes in the northern part of the church date back to the 15th century.
The same monument is in harmony – in an explanatory way- with the history of the island of Cyprus and in particular with the changes happened in the village or city or province ∙ where the monument was built / created.
Arch: each curved or arched construct, arc, arch.
Cemetery church: the church which is located in the cemetery.
Dome: mainly hemispherical construction on a circular base, the towering roof covers the building which is mainly a Byzantine church.
Evangelists: name of each of the writers of the four gospels: Matthaios, Marcus, Luke, John. Pantocrator: the ruler of everything, of the whole world, God or Christ , defined representation of Christ on the orthodox church dome.
Style: all special expressive ways used by an artist or group of artists at a particular time or in a particular place.
1) What were the influences of the painter who painted the dome of the church of the Pantocrator and the Evangelists?
2) Is the turbulent architectural history of the monument visible nowadays?
2) Response/ Indicatively: Nowadays turbulent history of monument architecture is not easily visible. The final result, which is the three-nave building, has harmonious proportions, which do not let visitors see the changes made over the time.
- Antiquities Department of Cyprus http://www.mcw.gov.cy/mcw/da/da.nsf/DMLunesco_gr/DMLunesco_gr?OpenDocument (03/11/2012).
- Archaeological sites and monuments of Cyprus in the list of world cultural heritage, Nicosia, Cyprus National Commission for UNESCO, http://whc.unesco.org/cyprus2009/
- Centre of the Greek Language, Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek, http://www.greek-language.gr/greekLang/modern_greek/tools/lexica/triantafyllides/index.html
- Dometios Monk, Journey to hagiographic churches of Cyprus, Nicosia, 2008.