The Acropolis and Byzantine Churches in Athens (with pictures)

Earlier today, after much searching through downtown Athens, I finally found a store that sells a card reader for my camera. Even though it was ridiculously overpriced I bought it, and now I will be able to add pictures to my blog (also ensuring that they survive if my camera is stolen--not a distant possibility, but more on that later). First of all, here is a picture of the Gennadius Library, where we have class for the Byzantine Greek Summer School. The inscription on the top reads: "They who call themselves Greeks are those who share in our education/culture." Here is a link to pictures of some of both my apartment complex as well as the Gennadius and Blegen Libraries.

For the trip at the end of our first week, we visited various sites around Athens. The first site of interest was the Peitraki Monastery, a very large Middle Byzantine construction which today is the administrative headquarters of the Orthodox Church of Greece. The frescos inside are considerably later than the building itself, but they are beautiful nonetheless.

Our next visit was to the Church of the Theotokos Gorgoepikoos. Unfortunately, we were only able to see the outside of the church, but there are nonetheless some extremely interesting features on the outside of the this church. One image I like in particular is the one below. Our understanding of Byzantium is often coloured by our post-Enlightment dichotomoy of the division of Church and State, and what has survived of Byzantine art may lead us to believe that all Byzantine art was religious. The picture below is a good example of how both secular and religious art could occupy the same space--keep in mind that this is the exterior decoration of a church.

A motif that I have seen on the exterior of other Byzantine Churches but I don't entirely understand is that of the lion eating a hind, or oftentimes some other animal. This is a motif common in Classical art--you can see it in the Museum of the Acropolis, for instance--but I don't understand its function on the outside of a church. Of course, this is not to suggest that all images served a theological or ideological purpose--there are many examples where the Byzantines saw an image or design that they liked and incorporated into their own art.

After this church we visited the current chapel of the University of Athens, and also a 19th century cathedral. The cathedral in particular I enjoyed (I'm allowed to appreciate art after 1453, right?). The image of Paul preaching to the Athenians in the Areopagus was particularly moving.

Something that I found baffling and I was unable to figure out in the brief time I was in the cathedral was the panel next to the above image. It is a quotation from Eusebius' life of Constantine and it reads "O Constantine, in this sign, conquer."

I have many more photos from the rest of the day, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Acropolis. It was impressive, although there were enormous crowds and much of the Acropolis is currently draped in scaffolding. In any case, it was an enjoyable experience.

Well, I have to get some work done. I now have all of my pictures up at this link. For the next post, I will hopefully detail my trip to Corinth, Mystra, and Sparta (no, it wasn't madness).