Figure 1. A map of Greece. In black, the Seven Islands

Transcription

1 Between East and West The Religious Architecture of the Seven Islands Dionysis A. Zivas, Professor Emeritus National Technical University of Athens, Greece Strung out along the west coast of Greece is a group of islands known as the Ionian Islands or the Seven Islands. Northernmost island in this linear formation is Corfu, opposite the Greek-Albanian border, and southernmost is Kythera, very close to Cape Tainaron in the Peloponnese, some 265 nautical miles or 490 kilometres distant from Corfu. Between these extremes, from north to south, lie another five islands, Paxoi, Lefkada, Cephalonia, Ithaka and Zakynthos (fig. 1). Numerous islets, some inhabited, others not, complete this insular group. Figure 1. A map of Greece. In black, the Seven Islands The Ionian Islands are known since prehistoric times. After all, one of them, Ithaka, was the birthplace and kingdom of one of the most famous heroes of the Trojan War, Odysseus. As we all know, for ten long years after the end of the war, Odysseus wandered the Mediterranean, until he finally reached his native isle and was reunited with his faithful wife Penelope, who had waited for him patiently all those difficult years. In the ensuing centuries the Ionian Islands followed the fortunes of Hellenism, until the end of the twelfth century AD, when the Frankish assaults on the Byzantine Empire commenced. 1

2 At the end of the twelfth century these islands passed into Frankish hands, in which they remained until the late fifteenth century. The Franks were succeeded by the Venetians, who were the dominant power for another three hundred years, until the collapse of the Serenissima Repubblica in the late eighteenth century. From then on, they passed another seventy years or so under the domination of various Great Powers of the period, until 1864, when the Ionian Islands, a protectorate of Great Britain, where united with Greece. They have remained part of the Greek State ever since. All this means that for almost seven hundred years, from 1185 until 1864, the Seven Islands were under western rule and consequently followed a historical, political and cultural course very different from the corresponding one of the rest of the Greeks living on the mainland, in the Peloponnese, Crete and the Aegean Islands. For the duration of this period, the inhabitants of the Ionian Islands lived under two concurrent and different cultural influences. The first influence is what we shall call Eastern, that is the local cultural tradition, which is expressed in two main ways: through the language the Ionian islanders speak Greek and through the doctrinal difference between the Eastern and the Western Church the Ionian islanders are Orthodox Christians. The second cultural influence, which we shall call Western, is that brought to the islands by the conquerors, who were Catholics and spoke their own language. From the conflict between these two cultural realities and their final synthesis, modern Ionian islands culture was to emerge, in its every form, architecture, art, poetry, music, theatre. When the Franks captured the island in the late twelfth century they abolished the Orthodox metropolises, installed Latin bishops and tried to impose the Catholic faith, which meant that things were not easy for the Orthodox Church. The three centuries of Frankish-rule are a rather obscure period, from which almost nothing has survived except perhaps for certain parts of fortified constructions. It should be noted here that very few Byzantine churches have survived in the Ionian Islands, such as the church of Saints Jason and Sosipater in Corfu (fig. 2) and a few other ruined ones, such as that of Saint Nicholas Megalomatis of Zakynthos (fig. 3). All should be dated to the tenth or the eleventh century, that is to before the Frankish conquest. Thus, it is evident that no notable religious building of the orthodox church was constructed in the Ionian Islands during the three centuries of domination by the Franks. The building of new churches on the islands began much later, after the consolidation of Venetian sovereignty that is after 1485, when the general conditions changed spectacularly and the Orthodox Church was able to reclaim its rights, with the tolerance or perhaps the encourage- 2

3 International Congress of Aesthtics 2007, Aesthetics Bridging Cultures Figure 2. The byzantine church of Saints Jason and Sosipater in Corfu. Figure 3. A part of the ruined byzantine church of Saint Nicholas Megalomatis in Zakynthos. 3

4 ment of the new administration. We should not forget that Venice s relations with the Pope were not always as good as they could have been and that the motto of the Venetians themselves was First Venetians and then Christians. However, when the moment came for new Orthodox churches to be constructed two events of outstanding importance had preceded. First, the Byzantine Empire no longer existed and the radiance of Byzantine centres had begun to fade. And second, simultaneously, Venice, together with the new circumstances it was to create administrative, economic, social brought with her to the islands the Renaissance. In other words, Venice brought a new, sophisticated civilization, which, as is well known, was to set its seal on Europe and change its image. The Byzantine, the Eastern, models were now very distant and for the Ionian islanders, who were linked with a new powerful centre of dependence and reference, Venice, the return to these models and their revival, after the elapse of three centuries, was no longer possible. Thus, from the early sixteenth century, new architectural forms were introduced in the Seven Islands forms of the Renaissance and of Baroque, now triumphant. These led to creations with obvious Western influences, both in secular and ecclesiastical architecture, but at the same time with some local peculiarities. I believe that it is particularly interesting to take a look at what happened in church architecture in the Ionian Islands during this period of Venetian rule. The church type that prevailed was the single-aisle, timber-roofed basilica, which was applied both in urban centres and in rural settlements. In its simplest version, this church has a ground plan in the form of a rectangular parallelogram with ratios of sides ranging from 1:1.5 to 1:2.5, depending on the desired size. The sanctuary conch, semi-hexagonal outside and semicircular inside, projects from the east side (fig. 4). Figure 4. The plan of the church of Panaghia Keriotissa, Zakynthos. 4

5 International Congress of Aesthtics 2007, Aesthetics Bridging Cultures The church interior is divided into three parts. At the west end is the space for female members of the congregation (gynaikonites). This is usually arranged on two levels and separated from the nave by a wooden screen, the openings in which are frequently closed by a light wooden mesh through which the women could see the nave but which obstructed the view of the gynaikonites (fig. 5). As a rule, the entrance to the gynaikonites was from the west front and was named female portal (fig. 6). Figure 5. The gynaikonites of the church of Aghia Marina, Zakynthos. Figure 6. The west façade of the church of Ypapanti in Machairado, Zakynthos. 5

6 Next comes the nave, which occupies the greater part of the building. At its east end is the area of the sanctuary, which is separated from the nave by the iconostasis. Frequently reaching up to the ceiling, this is usually wood-carved and gilded, and carries the cult icons (fig. 7). Figure 7. The iconostasis of the church of Aghia Marina, Zakynthos. The interior of the nave is rectangular parallelepiped in form. This form geometrically simple and easily comprehended was quickly transformed into an extremely lavish space. The shining surfaces of the iconostasis, the gynaikonites and the ceiling, as well as the surfaces of the two other sides (fig. 8), as a rule covered with wall-paintings and decorative wood-carved frames, the chandeliers, the brass or silver candelabra, the hanging lamps and the icon-stands, the colours and the shapes, all contrive to create an almost dreamy ambience. The articulation of the fronts of churches in the Ionian Islands is also influenced by Western architecture, which is here, of course, transposed on a different scale and leads to the creation of a singular local variation of Italian Baroque (fig. 9). The conclusion is that the later churches of Zakynthos from the sixteenth into the nineteenth century applied a more explicit Western-mode architecture in their style, but followed the functional organization of the Eastern Church and, perhaps even more, the very ancient traditions of 6

7 Figure 8. The interior of the church of Phaneromeni, Zakynthos. Figure 9. The church of Phaneromeni, north façade. 7

8 the East. This is confirmed by the presence of the gynaikonites in the particular form it takes in the islands, and the iconostasis that separates completely the nave from the sanctuary, which is never the case in Western churches. Furthermore, a relief double-headed eagle that occurs occasionally at the centre of the floor of the nave (fig. 10), in other words the emblem of the last imperial dynasty of the Palaiologoi has obviously symbolic significance. Figure 10. A double-headed eagle from the church of Saint Nicholas in Mouzaki, Zakynthos. One last issue that merits a mention is the representation of holy persons. As is well known, the Eastern Church, after the violent internal strife of Iconoclasm, finally accepted only the two-dimensional representation of holy persons, in wall-paintings and portable icons, whereas the Western Church accepted the three-dimensional representation also, in the form of statues. Artists of the Ionian Islands clearly received the influence of Western art, but at the same time had to obey the dictates of Eastern doctrine. I believe it is interesting to look at the results of this encounter and the final compromise. This emerged when the two-dimensional images of the saints of the Eastern Church were cut out around their precise outlines and placed on top of the iconostasis, in front of shallow niches supported by projecting shell motifs. There are two such examples in Zakynthos (figs 11, 12). I believe that this is the extreme limit of the influence of Western conceptions, or, from a different perspective, this is the extreme limit of the concession of Eastern views on the manner of representing holy persons in Orthodox churches. 8

9 International Congress of Aesthtics 2007, Aesthetics Bridging Cultures After the deep and long-lasting incision made from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, a new typology and a new architecture came to replace the Byzantine, the Eastern tradition. Nonetheless, the final result, with the overt and intense Western influences, also incorporated the surviving avowals and perceptions of the Eastern Church in a new and significant cultural and artistic synthesis. Thus, Architecture and Art succeeded in bridging the two different conceptions and leading to a novel result. Figure 11. The iconostasis of the church of Saint Dionysios (now destroyed) in Zakynthos. Figure 12. The iconostasis of the church of Aghia Mavra, in Machairado, Zakynthos. 9