Νέα στοιχεία για ένα μοναστήρι στη μεσαιωνική πόλη της Ρόδου
Part of : Δελτίον της Χριστιανικής Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας ; Vol.39, 2000, pages 43-54
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Pages:
43-54
Parallel Title:
New Evidence on a Monastery in the Medieval City of Rhodes
Section Title:
Articles
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Abstract:
The monastery discussed here dates from the period of theKnights of St John of Jerusalem (1310-1522) and is locatedin the neighbourhood of Aghios Phanourios in the Medievalcity of Rhodes. It comprises the katholikon, the courtyardsto north, east and south of this church, and the cells on theeast and south sides of the east court. There are two entrances from Omirou street and one from Andronikoustreet. The garden, which now accommodates the outdoorfolk dance theatre, communicated with the monastery viathe east wing of cells and obviously belonged to it (Fig. 1).The katholikon consists of two vaulted-roofed aisles withpointed vaults and sanctuary conches which are semicircularinside and trilateral outside. The aisles communicatedthrough two arches and a door in the median wall in thesanctuary. To the northwest of the katholikon, is theAndronikou street entrance, roofed with ribbed cross vaults,while to the west is another small vaulted-roofed room andthe lower part of a minaret (Fig. 2). During the Ottomanperiod (1523-1912) the church was converted into a mosque,known as Abdul Jelil (Fig. 3). At some time in the SecondWorld War a bomb struck the middle of the katholikon,opening an enormous hole in the roof and destroying thetwo intermediate arches and parts of the vaults (Figs 4, 10).Restoration of the katholikon in the bombed section of thecells and layout of the court were completed in 1999 (Figs 5,6). The church was known until recently as St Bernard or StBernardin of the Franciscan Order, in accordance with ahypothesis posited by A. Gabriel. However, the wall-paintings uncovered behind the mihrab, in the southeast cornerof the church, in 1986, refute this view. The representationof scenes from the Life of St Nicholas in the south aisle, aresult of a dedication, indicate that the katholikon or itssouth aisle at least, was dedicated to this saint. Their style isconsidered eclectic and they are dated to the second half ofthe 15th century. Of particular interest are the monastery'sdoorways: 1) the Andronikou street entrance with therectangular lintel resting on stone corbels and bearing apointed niche with cornice between the niche and the lintelof the door (Fig. 13), and 2) the east doorway of thenorthwest cross-vaulted portico and the more westerlyOmirou street entrance (Fig. 14) with lowered arch andarched niche with Rhodian guilloche.From careful examination of the constructional details ofthe katholikon six important building phases can be distinguished (Fig. 7), the first five of which date in the Hospitaller period (1310-1522) and the last in the Ottoman period(1523-1912), when the monument functioned as a mosque.It is clear that the church was originally single-aisled androofed with a pointed vault, and consequently of the time ofthe Knights. After two successive westwards extensions ofthe same vault, a side chapel was added to the south in theform of an aisle (Fig. 8). Later, the northwest cross-vaultedentrance porch was added (Fig. 9) and the south crossvaulted portico (cloister) opening towards the monasterycourtyard (Figs 10,11). Thus the development of the churchexplains its now strange typology.Study of the Hospitaller monuments in Rhodes, in conjunction with research on the documents, can throw light ontheir identity. The documents of 1 December 1388, 12March 1428 and 30 September 1485, and the grave stone ofthe nun Agnes of the Augustinian Order, who died in 1393,which was found in a floor inside the Yeni Hamam, adjacentto the monument in question, can lead to the followingconclusions: 1) The monastery in question most probablybelonged to the Order of St Augustine, with graves ormortuary chapels (Fig. 7): one dedicated to St Catherine, ofthe Giovanni Corsini family and the Cibo family, in the westpart of the north aisle (2nd and 3rd phases), and the otherdedicated to St Nicholas, in the south aisle, (4th buildingphase). 2)The cross-vaulted entrance from Andronikoustreet and the south cross-vaulted portico (cloister) wereperhaps added after the destructions in the siege of 1480 andthe earthquake of 1481, and possibly sponsorsed by PopeInnocent VIII (Giovanni Battista Cibo) in 1485. So theoriginal church (1st phase) and the two subsequent additions west of the same vault (2nd and 3rd phases) are ofthe Hospitaller period (and before the second half of the15th century). The east section of the south aisle with theapse (4th phase) is the side chapel of St Nicholas and wasbuilt and decorated with wall-paintings in the second half ofthe 15th century. The northwest entrance area and thecross-vaulted portico-cloister (5th phase) are dated to thelate 15th or the early 16th century (before the end of theHospitaller period in 1522)
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