Die Panagia-kirche Und Die Erzengelkirche in Kakodiki

Hardly any other region in Greece offers such a density of churches with Byzantine frescoes as does Crete. The primary concern of this present study is to make a contribution to the urgently needed basic research in this subject. Its main objective is the complete publication of the Church of the Panagia, painted by the atelier of Ioannes Pagomenos and dated by the donors inscription to 1331/2, and the undated Church of the Archangel Michael that was painted by an anonymous atelier. It can be dated as being from before 1370 on the basis of a graffito. Both churches are located in Kakodiki, in the district of Selino in the prefecture of Chania in southwestern Crete. Both are not only highly interesting monuments in their own right, but also belong to two larger, chronologically successive groups of churches, in each case painted by ateliers. Thus, the investigation and comparison of their wall paintings leads to far-reaching conclusions about the art historical developments and cultural background, as well as the working methods, organisation and structure of Byzantine painting ateliers. The particular slant chosen for this study takes advantage of the good starting point with regard to available monuments in order to make these two churches accessible as ideal monuments in the analysis of local ateliers. Printed with the support of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF)