The museum
The Byzantine Museum of Veroia is
housed in a newly renovated industrial building located in the heritage listed
district of Kiriotissa. The building was founded in the early 20th century by
Stergios Markos, a doctor educated in Bucharest. It housed a roller flour mill powered
by water from a tributary of the River Tripotamos, which ran along the south
side. The building is a typical example of industrial architecture at the time
and originally stood four storeys high. The walls were of local limestone and
strong mortar, reinforced with hewn cornerstones, and the floors and roof of
wood, mounted on a metal frame of cast iron on the perimeter walls. The flour mill
operated until the 1960's, and the building suffered a fire in 1981.
Now renovated, the museum comprises a ground floor with a gift shop, conservation
lab, storage spaces, areas for educational programmes, exhibitions and lectures,
and three upper floors totalling 720m2, each of which houses a conceptually
separate section of the permanent exhibition. The objects in the permanent
exhibition are part of a rich collection of icons, frescoes from churches,
mosaics from secular and religious buildings, manuscripts and incunabula,
ceramics and miniatures, coins and wood carvings, burial goods, architectural
sculptures and inscriptions.
In particular, the first floor exhibition
presents the main features of Byzantine culture as exemplified by Veroia, a
regional city in the Empire with a wealth of history and noteworthy monuments,
and its diverse cultural relations with Constantinople
and Thessaloniki, the major centres in the Byzantine world, as well as with
other cities in Macedonia. Frames of reference for studying communication
between them are Constantinople, as expressing
output at the centre of the Empire, Thessaloniki, following trends in the
capital, and Kastoria, a parallel example of a regional city. Links between the
cities are traced with regard to worship, art, financial and commercial
transactions, as well as to human resources, i.e. the itinerant artists who contributed
to the spread of ideas, aesthetic values and ideological currents in the empire.
The museum programme is complemented by a presentation of public and private
life in the city (on the second floor), and is rounded off with a portrayal of
worship as represented by the features to be found where it was practised, as
well as by the human perception of sanctity and the Divine (on the third floor).
Glossary (2)
wall paintings or murals:
Painted scenes on a wall or ceiling surface.
mosaic:
patterns or
images composed of small, colored tesserae. Mosaic
decoration can
be applied
to all the surfaces
of a building:
floor, walls or ceiling.
Information Texts (3)
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.
The city:
Around
the
top
of the Thermaic
Gulf
there were
several small ancient
towns
with intense
commercial
activity, which further expanded after
the destruction
of Olynthus
by Philip
in 348
BC. According
to Strabo,
King Cassander founded a new city
in 316 BC, naming it Thessaloniki
after his wife, sister to Alexander the Great. The few traces of Hellenistic
buildings
identified
to date
- an important
administrative
building complex in Governing House
Square, and the east
part of the
wall -
indicate that from
the outset the
city
was
intended
to
be a major
political and
military centre.
Thessaloniki’s geographic
location at a key point on Macedonia’s
land and sea routes was an important factor in its growth down the centuries.
From the mid 2nd century BC onwards it was the most important
military and trading post on the Via Egnatia, which crossed the Balkan Peninsula from Durres to Byzantium (later Constantinople). Its port also began
to flourish, lying as it did at the end
of the road
leading from the
Danube
to
the Aegean. The city thus became the crossroads
of the major trading routes heading East-West and North-South in the Roman Empire.
Christian
history in Thessaloniki
began with the arrival
of
Paul
the Apostle,
who
preached
in
the city’s synagogue
in
51
or early
52
AD,
though archaeological traces are thin
on the ground until three
centuries later. The 1st century
saw the foundation of the Roman forum, along with several public buildings such
as the library, the gymnasium and the Gallery of Figurines, which may have
belonged to the imperial bath complex. In 298-299 Caesar Galerius moved
his headquarters from Sirmium in Panonnia to Thessaloniki, adorning it with new
monumental buildings such as the palace, the hippodrome, the
theatre-stadium and the Rotonda, which was originally a temple modelled
after the Pantheon in Rome. The famous Arch of Galerius, a dedicatory
tetrapylon known locally as the Kamara, was erected at this time, decorated
with scenes from Galerius’s victories against the Persians. In 322 Constantine
the Great built the port at the southwest end of the shore.
Thessaloniki became an important
ecclesiastical
centre from
the
late 4th century onwards. In 380, while staying in the
city with his court in preparation for a campaign against the Goths, Emperor
Theodosius I was baptized by Bishop Acholius (or Ascholios) and issued a
decree forbidding
sacrifices
throughout the
empire. Around
the same time, the
bishop
of
the city
was
promoted to
archbishop
and vicar (representative)
of the Pope
of Rome,
with
jurisdiction
over
the entire prefecture of East Illyria. The
Christian churches built over the next two centuries changed the city, as they
were the tallest buildings and most important landmarks in the new town plan
developed on either side of the imperial road (the Via Regia), along the axis
of what is now Egnatia Street.
The Episcopal Church was a large five-nave basilica, possibly dedicated
to Agios Markos; the Church
of Agios Demetrios became
the city’s major pilgrimage shrine. The large public buildings of the past either
fell into gradual decline and were abandoned (such as the forum, which became a
quarry for rocks and clay), or changed function (such as the Rotonda,
which was converted into a Christian church).
Excavations
in the city’s historic centre have brought to light numerous early Christian
buildings, the majority of which are houses. Most are urban villas in the
city’s north and east section, with a spacious vaulted banquet room
(triclinium) and a peristyle surrounded by rooms, baths, storage areas or cisterns.
The cemeteries outside the city walls contained graves of all types, from pit
graves to cist graves and tiled versions etc. Most important of all are the
vaulted tombs, with fresco decorations in the interior.
From
the late 6th
century
Thessaloniki
was
repeatedly
raided by the
Avaro- Slavs and suffered earthquakes which destroyed many buildings. Combined with a general decline in the state
economy, the raids and earthquakes altered living conditions in the city. This
change can be
traced in the construction of smaller, humbler houses with one or
at most two rooms, erected on the ruins of old buildings. Descriptions of the
houses
preserved in
legal documents
of the Mount Athos monasteries
provide an idea
of life
in the city;
workshops and houses stood cheek by jowl, around shared courtyards with ovens
and wells. House walls often incorporated earlier ruins and were constructed of
various materials - some were of plaster coated wooden boards. Small churches
and chapels were founded in the neighbourhoods on monastery-owned land. The
Archbishop of
Thessaloniki
came
under the
Patriarchate
of
Constantinople
and the new Cathedral of Agia Sophia was built in the late 8th century,
decorated with mosaics sponsored by the emperor. The establishment of the Theme
of Thessaloniki in the early 9th century offered security to the
inhabitants and
stability
in the region.
The markets
filled with
goods
and the number
of visitors grew.
The
city
was
proud of its scholar Bishop
Leo the Mathematician and of two
brothers:
Constantine, who
became a monk
named
Cyril,
and
Methodius.
In 863
they travelled
to
Moravia, where
they created
the
Old Slavonic alphabet
and translated
the Bible,
the Divine Liturgy and
important
canonical
texts
into the
language of the newly converted Slavs. Over the next centuries
many more chapels and churches were built, such as Agios Euthymios, next
to Agios Demetrios, and Panagia
Chalkeon (1028).
After
Thessaloniki
fell to the Saracens in 904, the next wave of destruction occurred when the
city was wrested by the Normans
in 1185. The Crusaders made it the capital of the Frankish kingdom from 1204 to
1224. From then onwards Thessaloniki
frequently changed hands between Greek rulers who laid claim to the imperial
throne, until 1246, when it was annexed to the Empire of Nicaea along with the
rest of Macedonia.
In 1303 Irene-Yolanda
of Montferrat,
second wife
of
Andronicus II,
came to the city
and remained there until her death
in 1317, while in 1320 Emperor
Michael IX died
in the city.
Important monuments of Paleologan art and architecture still survive from the
first third of the 14th century, such as the churches of Agioi Apostoloi, Agia
Aikaterini, Agios Panteleimon, Agios Nikolaos Orfanos and the Taxiarches
(Archangels). Art production continued over the subsequent turbulent decades,
though on various scales: the Church of Christ the Saviour, built after 1340,
is the smallest church in the city, while that dedicated to the Prophet Elijah,
built after 1360, is one of the largest. Several vacant plots within the city
walls were turned into vegetable gardens or cemeteries.
During
the
conflict
between
Andronicus
II
and
his grandson
Andronicus
III,
the Serbs and
Ottomans
became involved
in the internal
affairs of the
empire
as allies
for
one or other
party
vying for the
throne,
drawing
ever closer
to Thessaloniki
and its
surroundings. From 1342 until 1349 the city
was tormented by discord between the Zealots and the Hesychasts. In 1387,
following a four-year siege, the city was surrendered to the Ottomans. In 1403
it returned to Byzantine rule under Manuel II. In 1412 and 1416 it was besieged
by Musa, one of the aspiring successors of Sultan Bayezid. Fearing a new
conquest by the Ottomans, in 1423 Andronicus Palaeologus handed the city over
to the Venetians, on conditions that were never honoured. Thessaloniki finally fell to the Ottomans in
1430.
The city:
Located in Western Macedonia, the city of Kastoria is the capital of the prefecture of
the same name. It lies between the Verno (Vitsis) and Grammos Mountains,
on a narrow peninsula which widens as it projects into Lake Orestiada,
also known as Lake
Kastoria. Its
geographical location and naturally fortified position, described by Anna
Comnena when her father Alexius I Comnenus besieged the city, rendered it one
of the major hubs in Western Macedonia. This was
a decisive factor in the city’s economic and cultural development.The first
evidence of habitation in the area’s long history can be traced back to the
Neolithic era. According to written sources, in the pre-Christian era the site
of present day Kastoria was occupied by Keletron or Kilitron, one of the cities
of Orestida along with Diocletianoupolis and Argos Orestikon.Procopius the historian relates that in the 6th century
Justinian founded a new fortified city on the site, naming it Diocletianoupolis
after a ruined city of the same name nearby. Written sources from the 10th
century onwards refer to it as Kastoria.As part of the
fortification projects undertaken by Justinian to organize the defences of imperial
cities, the neck of Kastoria
Peninsula was closed off
by a wall reinforced with semi-circular and round towers. Controlled access to
the city was gained via three gates; the central one lay only 100 metres from
the bridge over the moat outside the city walls. The only Early Byzantine
monuments still surviving in the city are some sections of the wall, reused
architectural members (spolia) in the Church of the Archangel of the
Metropolis, and a capital found on the west side of the Koursoumli
Mosque, which lends weight to the hypothesis that there was a Christian basilica
in the area. In addition to the isthmus wall, from Early Byzantine times there was an
interior wall around the citadel. This began on the northwest side, ran
parallel to both shores of the lake and ended in the area to the north and east
of the Church of Panagia Koumbelidiki, incorporating it
into the city. The enclosure wall had at least six gates linking the citadel to
the city. When the Byzantine
fortifications were reconstructed, a massive tower was built to further
strengthen the main gate in the Justinian wall at the neck of the city.The link to the Via Egnatia facilitated communication between Kastoria and the
centre of the empire at Constantinople. Proof
of relations with the capital throughout the Middle Byzantine period is mainly
to be seen in the cultural influences apparent in monuments.Both within and
beyond the walls, the number of churches surviving from the 9th to
the late 14th century attests to a flowering of the city at that
time. The churches in question are small three-nave basilicas, such as
Agios Stephanos and Agioi Anargyroi; single-nave churches, such as
Panagia Mavriotissa and Agios Athanasios; and triconch churches, such as
Panagia Koumbelidiki. The most striking feature of the three-aisled basilicas
in Kastoria is a prominent central nave with raised sides, punctuated by single
and double light windows. The surviving iconographic programmes are
impressive, as is the ornate ceramoplastic decoration on the exterior,
featuring courses of clay tiles in the shape of rectangles, squares, parallelograms
and triangles. These often run like friezes around the top of the walls
under the roof, or surround the body of the monument at various heights.
Several of these churches were private, and many served as the catholica
of small monasteries in Kastoria. It is worth noting that most of the sites
were in continuous use, as is evident from the fact that the churches were
rebuilt and decorated more than once.The city has a turbulent history. From 927 to
969 it was occupied by the Bulgarians, who were expelled by the Pechenegs
with encouragement from the Byzantines. In 990 Tsar Samuel of the
Bulgarians raided Greece
and conquered Kastoria. It was liberated in 1018 by Basil II and became his
military operations base. In 1082 the city was taken by Bohemund, son of
the Norman leader Robert Guiscard. It was recaptured by Alexius I Comnenus
a year later, at the beginning of what proved to be a lasting peace, which
resulted in a new peak of prosperity. The city may have been occupied by the Normans for a few months at
the end of the 12th century, when they crossed Western
Macedonia en route from Durres
to Thessaloniki
in the summer of 1185. Kastoria seems to have been an important commercial centre
with a strong Venetian presence, as indicated by a chrysobull issued in
their favour by Alexius III Angelus in November 1198.
Bibliography (2)
1. Πέτκος Α. Σ, Καραγιάννη Φ., Βυζαντινό Μουσείο Βέροιας, Βέροια, 2007
2. Υπουργείο Πολιτισμού και Τουρισμού | Βυζαντινό Μουσείο Βέροιας, http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/1/gh151.jsp?obj_id=3299
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