Kapnikarea

Resume: There is no a systematic monograph, but a mass of references of second importance that
don’t suffice for the propoer architectural documentation of the site.

• The church dedicated to the Koimisis, or Dormition, of the Theotokos more usually known as
Kapnikarea, is the most famous Byzantine monument of Athens. It stands in a very good state of
preservation at the heart of the city's historic center and is the university church.' However, in
this case there is no systematic monograph, but only a mass of references of secondary
importance, as well as depictions, and these do not fill the need for careful architectonic
documentation of the monument?

Earliest Information: There is no much existing information regarding the church’s history in the 19th
century, only about the last one. The shape hasn’t changed and the exterior of the church was
modified.

• We will not occupy ourselves here with the problem of the monument's name or its history after
the War of Independence.

• The oldest architectural drawings by Couchaud, Monneret de Villard, and those that appeared
in the Algemeine Bauzeitung’ provide information about the modifications made to the exterior
of Kapnikarea during the last century and were used by the older studies of Millet, ®
Xyngopoulos' and Orlandos. Given that the shape of the church remained unchanged, the
drawings, plans and photographs of the exterior in the nineteenth century are not of particular
interest. Neither information about the building's older history nor inscriptions" exist.

Typology:

With regard to typology, Kapnikarea belongs to the complex cross-in-square, domed church type with a
tri-partite sanctuary and a narthex covered by barrel vaults. Thenaos does not have a strictly square
shape, but its proportions are 1 to 1.7. One idiosyncrasy of the Athenian churches lies in the
configuration of the three apses of the bema," with semicircular apses on both sides of the altar.

The four corner bays are covered by raised cross-vaults which approximate to pendentive domes. A
single-aisle, domed chapel dedicated to St Barbara was added to the north side of the church, as well
as an open stoa' (later converted into an exonarthex) on the west.
Alterations

• The comparison of old ground plans shows the alterations to the interior that were made when
Kapnikarea became a parish church and they tried to unify and augment the functional space.
Between the naos and the narthex, the narthex and the stoa, and the naos and the chapel, part
of the walls with the corresponding medieval door marble frames was demolished and
replaced instead with large arched openings.
• Both the north door and the windows of the chapel were widened in a crude fashion. At that
point" it seems that they removed the original interior plaster and it was replaced with the
neoclassical decoration in oil paints that survives until the present day in the chapel.
• Ottoman: There is a general impression that the chapel of St Barbara is later, probably from the
Ottoman period.
• Byzantine: However, part of the east wall belongs to the original building phase of the
Byzantine church: the cloisonné masonry (2.50m long and 4 m high) is merged in a regular
fashion with the masonry of the main church building and is comparable to it from every point
of view.
• At a height of roughly 4 meters and in the passage from the north wall of the church we can
discern the base of an arch that opens northwards. In other words, it is clear that the Byzantine
we do not know in what manner. Similar observations can be made about the west end" of the
chapel as well.
• Matters become less clear at the chapel's long north wall; in its rough masonry can be seen
some large ashlars, reused here for the second or even third time.
• Modifications have been made in the north end of what is today the exonarthex too. That this
was originally an open stoa with freestanding columns is also clear from the plans published in
the Algemeine Bauzeitung in 1850. Correlations with other similar stoas have led scholars to a
date in the twelfth century, as is also the case for the two-columned propylon at its south end.
• It is not known whether the intercolumniation of the stoa was originally closed with panels. The
masonry is cloisonné married at the bottom with large upright ashlars. Unusual features are the
gables in both the exonarthex and the propylon, distinguished by their steepness. The dome
has all the characteristics of the so-called 'Athenian domes', with marble arched cornices and
protruding gutters.
• The dome of the chapel is once again 'Athenian', but with pseudo-cloisonné masonry employing
low proportions, dentil instead of marble cornices, and colonnettes in secondary use.
• The south door of the naos, walled in today,. has a horseshoe-shaped arch of well-cut, stone
voussoirs and a homocentric dentil course. In the corresponding door in the propylon, we find
an unusual arrangement of elements composing the marble door frame: between the orthostats
and the horizontal element there is no 45-degree joining, as usual, but simply supported
horizontal member with the corresponding moldings and their Inter-sections at a 45 degree
angle.
Megaw, has stitched the windows of the church, especially the triple-light window in the bema but also
those in the stoa/exonarthex, in order to determine their chronology. He has also studied their pseudo-
Cufic ceramic decoration." It should be noted that in a recent study. some of the Cufic characters at
Kapnikarea were considered readable.

Details

The spolia embedded in the monument are also interesting. The four columns of the main nave do not
have bases. The northeastern column has a monolithic shaft of Karystian marble, but is in a poor state
of conservation and has the initials X.M. carved in it.

The column capital is Corinthian, the type commonly made by marble carvers In Prokonnesos, and it is in
very good condition.

The shafts of the three other columns consist of two drums and are made of granite or gray marble.
Their capitals are all different.

1. The southeastern capital has an integrated neck which measures roughly 10 centimeters in
height. It is Corinthianizing with eight leaves in each row and a concave abacus on all four sides.
The acanthus(?) leaves are poorly formed. Its dating is unclear and it may have been repaired in
the nineteenth century.
2. The northwestern capital is small, squat and Corinthian, with four acanthus leaves and a
concave abacus, and it is obviously Early Christian. The support for the arch above is clumsy: it
has an excess of approximately 12 centimeters on the east side.
3. The southwestern capital is Corinthianizing with reed leaves, a square abacus and a high,
unadorned Impost'. The acanths leaves in the lower zone are soft. It probably belnongs to the
Middle Byzantine Period.

In the façade of the stoa/exonarthex, two more rare types of Early Byzantine capitals have been
incorporated: they are impost capitals with zigzag friezes and bosses with monograms. Similar capitals
survive in Rhodes, Megara, in museums outside Greece and in Constantinople.

The very good condition of the church bears witness to its fine original construction. And while it has
undergone repeated repair and conservation, the masonry and vaulting demonstrate that the
construction is of the finest quality, a fact also discernable in the care taken, even down to the smallest
details.

One peculiarity of the chapel that should be mentioned is the fusion of the pendentives with part of the
circumscribed sphere for a height of at least 30 centimeters.

Chronology

1. With regard to the chronology, Megaw's view" that it was built in the third quarter of the
eleventh century has been accepted.
2. The stoa/exonarthex and two-columned small propylon probably belong to the first half of the
twelfth century, as have been noted above.
3. The chapel of St Barbara is a work of either the Frankish or Ottoman period and occupies the
position of another building whose form and function are unknown to us was an extension of
the main church.
4. The modern wall paintings of Kapnikarea are the work of Fotis Kontoglou."