Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Pandánassa convent
When excavations were resumed in 1952, the last thirty or so families who still lived in
the lower town were moved out to Néos Mystrás. Only the nuns of the
Pandánassa
(“Queen of the World”)
convent
have remained; they have a reception room where
they sell their own handicrafts and sometimes offer a cooling
vyssinádha
(cherryade) to
visitors. The convent's church, built in 1428, is perhaps the finest surviving in Mystra,
perfectly proportioned in its blend of Byzantine and Gothic. The
frescoes
date from
various centuries, with some superb fifteenth-century work, including one in the
gallery that depicts scenes from the life of Christ. Other frescoes were painted between
1687 and 1715, when Mystra was held by the Venetians.
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Perivléptos monastery
The diminutive
Perivléptos monastery
(1310), a single-domed church, partially carved
out of the rock, contains Mystra's most complete cycle of frescoes, almost all of which
date from the fourteenth century. They are in some ways finer than those of the
Pandánassa, blending an easy humanism with the spirituality of the Byzantine icon
traditions. The position of each figure depended upon its sanctity, and so upon the
dome the image of heaven is the
Pandokrátor
(the all-powerful Christ in glory after the
Ascension); on the apse is the Virgin; and the higher expanses of wall portray scenes
from the life of Christ. Prophets and saints could only appear on the lower walls,
decreasing in importance according to their distance from the sanctuary.
Laskaris House
Along the path leading from Perivléptos to the lower gate are a couple of minor,
much-restored churches, and, just above them, the
Laskaris House
, a mansion thought
to have belonged to relatives of the emperors. Like the House of Frangopoulos, it is
balconied; its ground floor probably served as stables. Close by, beside the path, is the
old Marmara Turkish Fountain.
Mitrópolis
he
Mitrópolis
or cathedral, immediately beyond the gateway, is the oldest of Mystra's
churches, built between 1270 and 1292. A marble slab set in its floor is carved with the
double-headed eagle of Byzantium, commemorating the 1448 coronation of Constantine
XI Paleologos, the last Eastern emperor; he was soon to perish, with his empire, in the
Turkish sacking of Constantinople in 1453. A stone with red stains is said to mark where
Bishop Ananias Lambadheris was murdered in 1760. Of the church's frescoes, the earliest,
in the northeast aisle, depict the torture and burial of Áyios Dhimítrios, the saint to
whom the church is dedicated. Opposite are frescoes illustrating the miracles of Christ
and the life of the Virgin; more intimate and lighter of touch, they date from the last
great years before Mystra's fall. Adjacent to the cathedral, a small
museum
(included in
main admission charge) contains various fragments of sculpture and pottery.
Vrondohión monastery
he
Vrondohión monastery
, a short way uphill, was the centre of cultural and
intellectual life in the fifteenth-century town - the cells of the monastery can still be
discerned - and was also the burial place of the despots. Of the two attached churches,
the further one,
Odhiyítria
(Afendikó; 1310), has been beautifully restored, revealing
startlingly bold, fourteenth-century frescoes similar to those of Perivléptos.
Néos Mystrás
This pleasant roadside community has a small square with several tavernas, crowded
with tour buses by day but low-key at night, except at the end of August when the
place buzzes with live music during the week-long annual
paniyíri
(fête).
RUINS OF MYSTRA (P.167) >
