Παρασκευή 27 Μαρτίου 2009

The icon of the Crucifixion

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Κυριακή 15 Μαρτίου 2009

The prison of Socrates ?



The cutting of ground work and even of whole rooms into the rocky parts of the Hills west of the Acropolis (the Aeropagus, the Hills of Nymphs and of the Mouses, the Pnyx) is especially characteristic of the area, which serves as an open air exhibition of the town planning and architecture of the ancients, carved into rock. The impressive structure cut into the rocky slopes of the hill of the Muses belong probably to a monumental two or three story dwelling, as we conclude from the alignments of bearn holes on the surface of the rock. The wooden beams supported the front part of the structure, which was made of stone masonry and wood. To the exterior floor belong passageways that connect with water- channels cut into the façade of the building, and a carved stairway at the south provided communication with the higher levels of the slope. The preserved back part of the structure is a complex of three rooms, carefully cut into bedrock, with doorways at the east and a cistern at the back. The use of these rooms is unknown. Its cave like structure, however, and its proximity to the Athenian Agora must have led to the popular tradition that the building was the: prison of Socrates” or an “ancient bath”, as guidebooks and history books inform us.
In the Second World War, the structure was used to hide the antiquities of the Acropolis and the national Archaelogical Museum and was sealed up with a thick concrete wall.

Pnyx -Pnyka



Pnyx

The Pynx is the monumental site in which functioned the democratic principles of equal rights under the law and of the democratic dialogue of the Athenians.

Zeus as protector of the state (Altar of Zeus Agoraios) and as healer (Shrine of Zeus Hypsistos) received the prayers of the assembly before the sessions began. The assembly (Ecclesia) of the people met ten times a year; there the chairman of the Prytaneis presided, assisted by a Secretary and a Herald, who made the announcements. The audience sat originally on the bedrock but later on wooden benches, while the orator spoke from the bema (speaker’s platform). At a lower level of this bema sat the Prytaneis, who, assisted by archers, kept order. From the bema of the Pynx famous politicians and orators such as Themistokles, Pericles, Demosthenes and Aischines addressed the Athenians.

The area, a semicircular amphitheatre in shape, 70m. in depth and 120m in diameter has strong retaining walls that support its perimeter. 

The site has been confirmed by the 5th century inscribed boundary marker;(hopos Πυκνός).
The monument has three building phases;
At the last phase,the 3rd, a new monument retaining wall with a stepped entrance at the center gave new dimensions in situ. Opposite the entrance the “bema” or simply “stone” was cut in the natural rock with three steps. To the same phase belong also the stoas to the east and west were never fulfilled due to the construnction of Diateichisma (wall) around 325 – 307 B.C.
The area of Pnyx was dedicated to Zeus as protector of constitution (Altar of Zeus Agoraios) and to Zeus Hypsistos as a god healer as it is shown by the niches of the rock (Sanctuary of Zeus Hypsistos)
The Pnyx was abandoned at the end of the 4th century B.C. when the meetings of Demos were transferred to the theater of Dionysos.

St Demetrius Loubardiaris



At the foot of the wooded hill of the Nymphs there is the small church of Agios Dimitrios, known as Loubardiaris. It is a single-aisled barrel-vaulted basilica built during the times of the Ottoman occupation. It was restored in 1955 by the famous architect Dimitrios Pikionis.

Life in color

Life in green

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Life in yellow




Life in..

Κυριακή 8 Μαρτίου 2009

Mystras

The archaeological site of Mystras has been included in the UNESCO list of monuments of the Worldwide Cultural Heritage (criteria 2,3,4) since 1989. The late Byzantine settlement at Mystras, which developed after the middle of the 13th century, was from 1262 the seat of the secular and ecclesiastical authorities of the Byzantine empire in Peloponnese and from 1348 the capital of the Despotate of the Morea, down to its conquest by the Ottomans in 1460.

The preserved overall urban designs of the settlement, and the architecture of the Frankish castle, the Byzantine palace, houses and churches, with their important paintings, make Mystras an invaluable source for the study of the medieval culture of Byzantium and Europe in general.
UNESCO CONVENTION 11-15 December 1989 .
Where
Οn one side lies the Mount Taygetos and on the other hand, Mount Parnon, which extends from the heart of the Peloponnese to the south coast.
Between two mountain ranges lies the Laconia Prefecture, whose capital is the city of Sparta. Sparta is located next to the Byzantine village of Mystras.

Perivleptos Monastery1365-1374
Hagios Dimitrios ,Metropolis, Mystras

Kerameikos

Pantanassa Monastery-Mystras

Σάββατο 7 Μαρτίου 2009

Mystras-Metropolis

Παρασκευή 6 Μαρτίου 2009

Pantanassa-Mystras

Hagios Dimitrios. Metropolis. Mystras

Hagia Sofia-Mystras

Perivleptos - Mystras

Κυριακή 22 Φεβρουαρίου 2009

Tolerance









Παρασκευή 20 Φεβρουαρίου 2009

Τρίτη 17 Φεβρουαρίου 2009

Ideal- By Stavros

Utopic School. By Dimitra Vakou

Hello!! My name is Dimitra… and I am from Greece…
With the next comic I present you the utopic school…
(I know that the picture is too small but I cannot do something more!!!)


The utopic school
The utopic school is something very important for our lives!!! We spend 7 to 8 hours per day in this building, and I think that it have to be perfect…
In my opinion the utopic school must be spacious. It have to have a swimming pool, two basketball courts, two volleyball and two football. In the classes, we should also have computers with connection in to the internet. A very big bookcase, with encyclopedias for the best information…
All the students should have a small wardrobe in which they can put their clothes or their bags and some personal things!!!
In to the school will be a restaurant (no a cantina) with homemade food!!!

Friendship - By Dimitroula

Δευτέρα 16 Φεβρουαρίου 2009

Helen Keller


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Byzantine monuments in Attica

Τρίτη 10 Φεβρουαρίου 2009

Κυριακή 8 Φεβρουαρίου 2009

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Ιερό

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Ilissos Basilica -Βασιλική του Ιλισσού - Μαρτύριο του Λεωνίδη



Basilica, Ilissos
Area: Athens
Type: Basilica
Date: first half of the 5th century

Description:

It is the basilica (nowadays, in ruins) that was built on an Ilissos islet, in the east of the Olympeion, where nowadays is situated Fokianou swimming pool. It resembles (but it has smaller dimensions) Lechaion basilica dedicated to Hagios Leonidios and the seven women who martyred with the saint. According to the saint’s mass book, their relics had been washed ashore by the sea to the western harbour in Korinthos, where they were buried. In all probability, the location choice (islet, river) wanted to refer to water due to the afore-mentioned incident. The basilica was dedicated to the same saint and the seven women martyrs.

It is three-aisled with a transept, a narthex and an atrium.

The martyrioum of Hagios Leonidios, bishop of Athens, lies in the northern wall. It is a 4th century building anterior to the basilica, which is dated to the first half of the 5th century based on the floor mosaics.

Panselinou N., Byzantine Athens, Athens 2004, p.39.

http://www.eie.gr/byzantineattica/view.asp?cgpk=490&lg=en&obpk=510&xsl=detail

Nice buildings

Panathinaiko Stadium


Zappeion



Σάββατο 7 Φεβρουαρίου 2009

Ελληνικά



Κλεμμένο αλλά καλό


Athens's view

Brief Chronology in the construction of Byzantine Churchesof the Attica

Athens, symbol of the classical civilization, changed its course during the Byzantine period. During late Antiquity, it constituted a great intellectual and cultural center in the Empire. However, the following period was characterized both by the prohibition of the teaching of philosophers in the School of Plato under Justinian and by the conversion of the Parthenon into a Christian church. The veneration of a pagan virgin goddess gave its place to the veneration of the Virgin Mary. These two initiatives of the Byzantine Government sealed the end of the national cultural tradition of the Mediterranean identified with Athens. Gradual demographic and building decline followed indicative of the period after the 6th century in Greece. The overthrow of the traditional economic life after certain northern raids (the Heruli towards the end of the 3rd century, the Goths in the end of the 4th century, the Vandals during the 5th century, the Slavs after the middle of the 6th century, the Saracens in the 8th century onwards) was the reason of a nerveless social, financial and cultural life.

Athens, according to Apostle Paul, had already accepted Christianity since the 3rd century A.D. It is of remarkable interest that a bishop in the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.) represented it. In the countryside, the self-sustained rural communities, which continued the life of the ancient demes, also embraced Christianity. Due to the freedom granted to them due to the distance from the center, they started building the first temples, mostly from the end of the 5th and the beginning of the 6th century. These churches – basilicas with exquisite mosaic floors, sometimes entire complexes in Braona, Aigosthena (Porto-Germeno), Stamata, Lavrio or in Glyphada but also in many other places – are representative examples of this type in Attica. All these basilicas are distinguished by baptisteries and remarkable mosaics.

In the year 662/663 A.D., the emperor Constans II spent his winter in Athens, while two women of distinguished Athenian families – proof of the existence of a local aristocracy – Irene and her niece, Theophano, ascended the Byzantine throne (end of the 8th century and in the 9th century respectively). Moreover, Basil II celebrated here his victory against the Bulgars, paying tribute to the church of the Panagia the Athiniotissa, which is no other than the Parthenon.

From the middle of the 9th century onwards, Athens follows the anodic course of the Empire, a route of reconstruction and flourishment known as the Macedonian Renaissance. New churches are built in new architectural types. This building activity will reach its peak during the 11th and the 12th century around Attica. The dominating architectural type – during the middle Byzantine period - was the one of the cross-in-square church, which obtains its own traits in Greece. Nonetheless, early Christian survivals in combination with new forms are observed. Something similar is viewed in the case of Hagioi Apostoloi Solaki in the ancient Agora in Athens, where we come across the rather radical combination of a central, tetra conch and cross in square church. Furthermore, a new architectural type makes its appearance with the Athenian dome, which crowns mostly the small churches in Attica.
The churches built during that period are nowadays known as the churches of the historical centre and not alone. All of Attica is distinguished by a number of churches. The most prominent of all, the Daphni, is decorated by great mosaics, which reveal the association of Attica with the new artistic trends of the big empire centres. On the other hand, even smaller churches, which used to be the katholikon of small monasteries, do not lack interest. On the contrary, they are often decorated with exquisite wall paintings, a fact that makes us wonder whether Attica was indeed declining at that stage.
A great number of these churches is presented on this site.

Βυζαντινοί Ναοί στην Αττική-Byzantine churches in Attica

During the last century of the Turkish occupation, there were 136 churches in Athens . Several of them got destroyed by the Bavarians, who did not really take an interest on medieval-Christian monuments in Athens , since these were not included in the esthetics of classicism, dominant current of the period. The rest of the churches left in Athens are today, apart from some exceptions, adapted to the modern city and, in many cases, they merge with apartments. Nonetheless, the still remain, not only evidence of the past, but also samples of a high esthetics among the most faultless of all.
They still manage to thrill us and we trace them unswervingly. In actual fact this is a recording of our own personal relationship with the object, the holy places along with their unrivalled devotion to the Byzantine architectural tradition.
We would like to remind of their existence, which although drowned among asymmetrical buildings, insignificant among concrete titans or forgotten on lost hills, remains unique, and in some cases like the one of the monastery in Dafni, captures worldwide attention for its magnificent mosaics.
The conservation of these historical monuments, is not something that should be taken for granted. For various reasons, either environmental ones or because of human error, only a tiny percentage manages to live on and, the more we travel back to the past, the smaller this percentage becomes.
One of the main factors of the history and the limited knowledge on lost monuments we possess is Art (writers and artists).. As for the case of Byzantine monuments in Attiki, there was the architect Theodore Du Moncel (1821-1884), one of the first explorers engaged in creating portrayals of churches in Athens . Another renowned architect was Olga Papalopoulou.
Through our trial to present the Byzantine monuments of Attiki, we cannot compete the esthetics of the paintbrush or the pen; nevertheless, we try to preserve them, indicate them and distinguish them on the universal e-world.
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Attic’s monasteries


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Daphni Monastery
Add Daphni Monastery to your page

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Saints Asomatoi of Thesseion



Cross-inscribed, four-columned church with cupola, dating from the second half of the 11th century. It was deformed by additions that were removed in 1959, when the monument was restored to its original form.
The facades were decorated with a frieze of clay tiles with "kufic" relief decorations (inspired from the old Arabic script). two of them are incorporated to the west facade. This frieze parallels the one on the church of Sts Theodoroi in Klafthmonos Square
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The Church of the Savior of Lykodemos


The Church of the Savior of Lykodemos Is a domed octagonal type cruciform church , the largest medieval structure in Athens. It was built in 1031 as part of a Roman Catholic monastery that survived until 1701.It was damaged by the Turks in 1780 .The building was restored by Czar Alexander II in the 1850s, and redecorated internally by the painter Ludwig Thiersch. Since then re-dedicated to St Nicodemus . It is now used as the Russian Orthodox Church of Athens.
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Agioi Theodoroi, Athens





This tiny church, situated west of Plateia Klafthmonos, was probably erected over the ruins of an earlier structure and is possibly the oldest Byzantine church in Athens. Simply, in a transitional cross-in-square shape, the church has inscribed plaques built into the west wall, over the entrance in the western wall, recording that it was renovated in 1065 A.D. by Nicolaos Calomalos. During the opening phase of the Greek Revolution in 1821 the church was badly damaged but was restored in 1840. The ambo and. the sanctuary of the church has also been restored. It is a lovely building with walls built in the typical cloisonn masonry and decorated with brick, Cufic ornaments and terracotta frieze of animals and plants. The paintings in the interior wall are dated to the 19th century.
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Omorfokklisia Galatsi



It is estimated that the church was built some time in the 12th century over an earlier Christian temple, which in turn had been built over an earlier pagan temple. Around the church, ancient Greek antiquities have been found as well as ancient human remains and it is probable that an ancient cemetery existing nearby.



Καθολικός Ναός Οσίου Λουκά. Νέο Ηράκλειο



Biographies

Picasso%27s%2Blife[1]


Anna%2Bfrank[1]


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We would love to...

From Dimitra Vakou:


By Dimitris


By Alexandra: Hello my name is Alexandra and I'm from Greece....I would love to make our world better and especially our environment!!


The sun will smile again when... By Eirini

Άλλα - Other

Alexis



Swipwreck of Antikythera

Το φαγητό που τρώμε / The food we eat







Η μουσική που μας αρέσει















Add Rembetika songs to your page

Οι ταινίες που μας αρέσουν







Seaside

Ουτοπίες 1

Utopic school
Hello!! My name is Dimitra… and I am from Greece…

With the next comic I present you the utopic school…





The utopic school
The utopic school is something very important for our lives!!! We spend 7 to 8 hours per day in this building, and I think that it have to be perfect…

In my opinion the utopic school must be spacious. It have to have a swimming pool, two basketball courts, two volleyball and two football. In the classes, we should also have computers with connection in to the internet. A very big bookcase, with encyclopedias for the best information…

All the students should have a small wardrobe in which they can put their clothes or their bags and some personal things!!!

In to the school will be a restaurant (no a cantina) with homemade food!!!
By Dimitra Vakou
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Ουτοπίες?

Παρασκευή 6 Φεβρουαρίου 2009

Walls of Baghdad

Walls of Baghdad

World hunger - global warming

Aids in Africa

war

17th November

Bullying

Racism
An eight-year-old black girl in South Africa recently told Ted Koppel on Nightline, "White people are better than black people. Whites know more, have more, and get more. I wish I was white but I am not." American children of color do not have to contend with apartheid, but they still do not live in a prejudice-free society! Say no to racism!

Bullying

"Everyone has the right to be respected and the responsibility to respect others"

Alone in the jungle of society

Saint Zacharias in Eleusina

The small post Byzantine church devoted to Saint Zacharias has architectural pieces of marble and ancient inscriptions incorporated in its walls. The church is built on the foundations of an ancient Christian triptych Basilica (5th -6th centuries a.C.), the remains of which could be seen around the church.

For one of the least

Romanian folk icons on glass- A piece of Heaven that lights up a country

Άγιος Νικόλαος

Εικόνες του Αντρέι Ρουμπλιώφ

Βυζαντινές Εκκλησίες στην Αθήνα

Συναγωγή

Τζαμιά στην Αθήνα

Άγιος Νικόλαος Ραγκαβάς

Γοτθικός ρυθμός

Μια μνημειώδης τετράκογχη Βασιλική στην Αθήνα

Ναυμαχία της Ναυπάκτου

Το κρυφό σχολειό

Anna Frank

Wooden shoes

The Holocaust

Olympieion

Triumph Arch

Mount Parnitha

Sustainability and sustainable development



Marathon dam

Danube Delta

Nature

See life

El Greco

Hello our names are Konstanina & Anastasia & Alexandra and will present you the biography of Diminiko Theotokopoulo (El Greko)

Dominikos Theotokopoulos was borned in 1541 in Crete an island of Greece.He lived the most of his life in Spain and in Italy as a asculptor,architect & painter of regeneration.Orriginaly trained as a hagiografer in Crete and then he left for Venice.In Italy affected by the greatest teachers of Italian art, as Tintoreto and Titsiano,In 1577 he moved to Toledo , where hi lived until the end of his life and completed some of the most famous works.And finally he died on 17th April 1614 in Spain


Εικονογραφία της Δυτικής Εκκλησίας

Iconography of the Catholic Church

Βυζαντινό και Χριστιανικό μουσείο

Τα ψηφιδωτά της Μονής Δαφνίου

Ελληνική τέχνη

Νόστοι

Εξέλιξη της Χριστιανικής τέχνης

Αφροδίτη - Eros

Add The cult of Aphrodite at Daphni. to your page

Mouring stone - Ελευσίνα

Κεραμεικός

The cemeteries of Ancient Athens.
The cemeteries of ancient Athens were located outside the gates of the city walls and extended along the main streets that connected Athens with the Piraeus and other Attic demes.
The most important cemetery was located outside the Sacred Gate, in the district of Kerameikos, on the road to Elefsis. It contained the grave plots of many distinguished families, as well as the memorials of foreigner ambassadors.
To its north, outside the Thriaseian or Dipylon gate, along the street leading to the Academy, was the official cemetery of Athens, the “Demosion Sema”, where the dead of war and important politicians were buried at the expense of the state.
During the Peloponnesian war, the concentration of the rural population of Attica in Athens and the Piraeus for reasons of safety, and its long presence in the city demes favored the expansion of the old cemeteries and led to the creation of new ones.