My Seven Wonders Ming Fan Chen
As a student in the Humanities Honor class, I have been studying the art and history of Byzantium and Islam. The class visited the Byzantine and Christian Museum; the Museum of Islamic art; and Mystra, which saw the last flourishing of the Byzantine Empire. During the visit to Mystra, I wondered why beautiful things cannot last forever. The Saint Demetrius Cathedral, Mystra, 1270-1290, Rebuilt in 1300. The earliest church to be built in Mystra, it is a cathedral because it was
Church of the Holy Theodores, Mystra. Because this church was closed the day we travelled to Mystra, I was left with a sense of mystery. We did not have the chance to enter, but our teacher told us this church has the biggest dome, which means inside this church is brighter and looks bigger than the other churches we visited. However, because this church had a large glass door on one side, we could take a look inside. Looking through the glass windows, we saw this lovely angel, and she was looking at us. Whether her face was happy or unhappy, we could not tell, but we know that she is alone. Inside this church, the frescos have fallen off the walls, and the angel is the only part left “perfect”. With its blue background, and graceful movement, the angel seems to want to prove that the history of Byzantium, its art and traditions, will stay forever.
the Bishop’s
Inside the church of Periveleptos. Mistra, 1350
headquarters. This is the east side of this church because it shows the apse. From this picture we can
I have never
see that there is a little bit of western cultural influence,
visited so
because of the bell tower. However, the apse is in Byzantine
many churches
style, such as the enclosed brick masonry and dentils around the windows are Byzantine types of masonry. However, the outside of this church is not much different from other churches. If we had not come with our teachers, I would not have found out that this church means a lot for Christians. The outside of this church is not impressive; however, the inside is amazing. The cycle of frescoes in the narthex depicts scenes from the Last Judgment, such as the frescoes of the Angel of Judgment, the Preparation of Christ’s Throne and sinners in hell.
before because I am not Christian, but I found this church the most beautiful since it has unique architecture and the wall frescoes inside are impressive. Although many have not survived, we still can see the structure of the frescoes. Christ on the main dome receives the sunlight from the windows, and gives us the feeling that he is on top of us, watching. There are many humanistic figures in the frescoes of this church, and my teacher told me that this was unusual in Byzantine church paintings because they portrayed a sacred world, not an earthly world. Yet in this church many human figures are portrayed with movement, and this made the church more lively.