Early Christian Crete...

A quiet day at work.  I was catching up on tasks that have been in the 'pending' list for weeks, and trying to tie up loose ends from various colleagues' work (one being absent because he's getting married on Saturday, the rest being fully occupied with the Kilwinning Dig).  I'm reliably informed that finds of medieval pottery have already been made at Kilwinning, on a site which was dug up previously by a professional team.  Obviously artefact recovery was not on their priority list back in the 60s...  And I'm featured in the Irvine Herald this week!  Aargh!!! 

Now to Crete.... 

I thought I'd devote a couple of posts to the churches and monasteries.

Sadly, a lot of the early basilicas have been flattened.  Some have been excavated, revealing beautiful pavement mosaic.  Now, I think this little site was an early religious site, though I might be wrong - I can't seem to find any reference to it in my guidebooks!

 

Unfortunately, I'd have needed a cherry-picker to do it justice...
 

A few of these early structures survive, including the massive basilica structure which survives, partially intact, at Gortyn (where the law codes were recovered).

Here's the exterior:-
 

 

And a shot looking towards the interior:-

 

I found the doorways into the side chambers rather strange, with their odd fanlight arrangement:-

 

It seems to be a deliberate design thing, rather than a relieving arch, as the two entrances shown here are markedly different, one with the 'fanlight', and one without...

There are some nice ornamental features, like this window surround:-
 

But, and I don't want to sound biased...  I think our good old western seaboard Gothic and Romanesque styles beat these things hands down, what with their carvings, mouldings and tracery,  Of course, this building is just a shadow of its former self.  The interior would have been lavishly decorated with mosaics but these are, alas, long gone, leaving just the shell of the structure behind.

Early Christian Crete...

A quiet day at work.  I was catching up on tasks that have been in the 'pending' list for weeks, and trying to tie up loose ends from various colleagues' work (one being absent because he's getting married on Saturday, the rest being fully occupied with the Kilwinning Dig).  I'm reliably informed that finds of medieval pottery have already been made at Kilwinning, on a site which was dug up previously by a professional team.  Obviously artefact recovery was not on their priority list back in the 60s...  And I'm featured in the Irvine Herald this week!  Aargh!!! 

Now to Crete.... 

I thought I'd devote a couple of posts to the churches and monasteries.

Sadly, a lot of the early basilicas have been flattened.  Some have been excavated, revealing beautiful pavement mosaic.  Now, I think this little site was an early religious site, though I might be wrong - I can't seem to find any reference to it in my guidebooks!

 

Unfortunately, I'd have needed a cherry-picker to do it justice...
 

A few of these early structures survive, including the massive basilica structure which survives, partially intact, at Gortyn (where the law codes were recovered).

Here's the exterior:-
 

 

And a shot looking towards the interior:-

 

I found the doorways into the side chambers rather strange, with their odd fanlight arrangement:-

 

It seems to be a deliberate design thing, rather than a relieving arch, as the two entrances shown here are markedly different, one with the 'fanlight', and one without...

There are some nice ornamental features, like this window surround:-
 

But, and I don't want to sound biased...  I think our good old western seaboard Gothic and Romanesque styles beat these things hands down, what with their carvings, mouldings and tracery,  Of course, this building is just a shadow of its former self.  The interior would have been lavishly decorated with mosaics but these are, alas, long gone, leaving just the shell of the structure behind.