Replica of Byzantine ship to sail next year in Turkey
A replica of the 9.64-meter-long, 2.6-meter-wide boat that was built in the Middle Ages will be created and launched at sea in 2013.
Yenikapı 12, a replica of a ship built during the Middle Ages that was unearthed during metro project excavations, will be launched at sea next year within the scope of a project coordinated by Istanbul University.
One of 36 sunken ships found during archaeological excavations carried out as part of Istanbul’s metro project will be replicated, put on display and launched at sea as Yenikapı 12.
A replica of the 9.64-meter-long, 2.6-meter-wide boat that was built in the Middle Ages will be launched in 2013.
Işıl Kocabaş of Istanbul University’s Cultural Artifacts Protection and Restoration Department said 36 wooden shipwrecks along with thousands of other artifacts had been found during the ongoing excavations that started in Yenikapı in 2004.
These shipwrecks, estimated to have been constructed between the fifth and 10th centuries, are regarded as the world’s largest shipwreck collection, the associate professor said. Research on 28 of them has been carried out by experts at the university under the leadership of the head of the department, Ufuk Kocabaş. The Yenikapı wrecks represented the technology of the mid-Byzantine Empire, which is not well-known, and the remains of the ships survived in very good condition, she said.
“The Yenikapı ships bring evidence of Middle Ages technology to the present. The boat gives us unique information about the construction technology of the period,” she said.
Kocabaş said the first stage of the Yenikapı 12 project was preparing the doctorate thesis on the boat’s construction technique and reconstruction. “The doctorate thesis tells us how the Yenikapı 12 was designed and constructed, and the process of making its replica. The body of Yenikapı 12 has been recorded with 3D technology. Each wooden detail on the surface of the boat was transferred to computer and we obtained a lot of information about its construction process. As a result of a three-year evaluation, the dimensions of Yenikapı 12 were determined. According to this data, a drawing of the boat has been made and illustrations and animations, showing its situation on the water, have been prepared,” she said.
The goal of the project was to produce a replica of the ship, Kocabaş said. “Our purpose here is to
gather more information about the construction of a ship from the Middle Ages. We will seek to answer questions such as: How many people worked on the construction? How did they gain the necessary materials? How were the ships assembled?”
Replica will be on display
Kocabaş said preparations for the project were continuing. “The construction will start this summer. We plan to finish it and launch it into the sea in the middle of 2013. But we need to find financial support to start the construction; this is the most important factor.”
Yenikapı 12 will be displayed in the garden of the Istanbul Archaeology Museums or in the historical garden of Istanbul University Rector’s Office Building in Beyazıt, she said.
“This way, visitors to the museum will be able to see the construction process of the replica. There will also be conferences given by experts during this process. Also, the whole process will be recorded in a documentary film as part of the project. When the replica is finished, visitors of Yenikapı 12 will have a magnificent experience in a boat from the Middle Ages,” Kocabaş said.
From Hurriyet
Dr Thomas Asbridge and The Crusades on BBC 2
One of the most popular articles on the blog has always been a book review by Malaise Ruthven of Thomas Asbridge’s book about the Crusades – The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land.
Tonight on BBC 2 we have the opportunity to watch Dr Asbridge as he retraces the steps of the first crusaders. If you miss it I am sure it will be available on BBC iPlayer (which is only available in certain countries). Click the picture below to watch a trailer.
Asbridge introduces the epic story of the Crusades – a tale of religious fanaticism and unspeakable brutality, of medieval knights and Jihadi warriors; of castles and kings; of heroism, betrayal, and sacrifice.
He explains how, using fresh evidence, eye-witness testimonies and contemporary accounts – from both the Christian and Islamic worlds – we are able to re-examine this epic medieval drama, and how he has retraced the steps of the Crusaders from a small town in France to the magnificent cities of the Holy Land, bringing to life the human experience of the Crusades, and shedding new light on how it was that two of the world’s great religions waged war in the name of God.
Find out more about the programmes here.
Dr Thomas Asbridge is an internationally renowned med ieval historian and author of the critically acclaimed books The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land and The First Crusade: A New History. In the course of his research, he has travelled extensively across the Middle East and walked from Turkey to Jerusalem along the route of the First Crusade.
Thomas studied for a BA in Ancient and Medieval History at Cardiff University, and then gained his PhD in Medieval History at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is now Reader in Medieval History at Queen Mary, University of London and director of the groundbreaking MA in Islam & the West.
5,000 Spectators Watch Age-old Byzantine Rites At Tarpon Springs
A nice little story from the St Petersburg Times, published Jan 7 1948 … of course this is St Petersburg USA!
2011 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
Madison Square Garden can seat 20,000 people for a concert. This blog was viewed about 62,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Madison Square Garden, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Transition to Christianity, Onassis Cultural Center, New York City
Plate with David fighting a Bear
An insightful art exhibition at the Onassis Cultural Center in New York City is providing answers to one of the central mysteries of Western civilization. How did Christianity evolve from a persecuted religious sect under the Roman Empire into a global faith and one of the world’s greatest patrons of the arts?
from The California Literary Review
Transition to Christianity presents 170 rare artifacts from the third to the seventh centuries AD, many never seen before in the United States. These paintings, mosaics, sculptures, coins and sacred objects are the evidence for a great cultural awakening during an era often dismissed as the “Dark Ages.” Scholars now prefer the term “Late Antiquity” to show the continuity, rather than the breakdown, of civilization in this era. During this period, the early Christians borrowed and absorbed artistic motifs from the “pagan” religions around them to create a visual language for expressing their spiritual beliefs.
The earlier, negative assessment of this epoch chiefly derives from Edward Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, dating to 1776. A landmark of English literature, as well as history, Gibbon’s “thick, square books” reflected the Age of Enlightenment’s low opinion of organized religion. Gibbon traveled to Italy as a young man, falling under the spell of the art and authors of the Classical, pre-Christian, period of antiquity. To Gibbon, the loss of this halcyon age could only be recounted in the terms of “decline and fall.”
Transition to Christianity tells a different story. Among the first works of art on display in the exhibition are large-scale mosaics which show how themes from pre-Christian art evolved into now-familiar depictions of Christ, the Virgin Mary and Christian saints.
This is readily apparent in the Personification of the Month of April, which formed part of a mosaic floor from Thebes in Greece. Ancient Greece and Rome extolled the virtues of “country living” much as modern societies do. Paintings and mosaics, like this exquisite work uncovered during the 1960′s, show the bounty of the harvest or the care of shepherds for their flocks. For Christianity, this image of a shepherd carrying a lamb had a different connation altogether.
Part of a mosaic pavement with the personification of the month of April
Jesus of Nazareth, executed by the Romans around 30 AD, was venerated as the “Good Shepherd” who had sacrificed his life for the spiritual redemption of humankind. But the memory of Christ’s crucifixion was still a painful one to Christians for decades, indeed centuries, afterward. A more comforting portrayal of Jesus, as a boy or young man caring for a sheep that symbolized the community of Christian believers, was encouraged.
The motif of the Good Shepherd provided the first popular images of Christian art, dating to the middle of the second century. Appearing first as paintings or wall carvings in the Catacombs in Rome or other secluded places of Christian worship, these allegorical images of God’s care for humanity incorporated a hallowed incident from Greek mythology. According to a very ancient tradition, Hermes or Mercury had raced to the aid of the city of Tanagra to prevent a plague. On his shoulders, Hermes carried a sacrificial ram, earning him the title of Kriophoros or “Ram Bearer.” Frequently depicted in Greek and Roman art, Hermes Kriophoros was easily recruited for service under Christianity.
Images of the Good Shepherd, aka. Hermes Kriophoros, appeared in often surprising and disingenuous forms. The marble table leg, on view in the exhibition, shows a “Ram Bearer” figure who could be explained as Hermes Kriophoros to Roman authorities on the prowl for Christians during campaigns of persecution. Once the Roman officials had departed, the true identity of the figure, the Good Shepherd, could be appreciated with renewed vigor. It could also have served to represent the Good Shepherd to confuse Christian zealots seeking to deface or destroy examples of “pagan” art like Hermes Kriophoros!
Trapezophoron (table leg) with the Good Shepherd
After Christianity was recognized as the official state religion of the Roman Empire in 380, a number of Christian groups, notably monks in Egypt, changed roles from martyrs to persecutors. A magnificent head of Aphrodite, dating to first century Athens, bears the marks of Christian vandalism. The eyes and lips have been chipped to “blind” and “silence” the deity. A cross was then inscribed on the forehead of Aphrodite. Once part of a full length statue, the decapitated head may have served as a trophy for the victory of Christianity over the dethroned gods and goddesses of Olympus.
Head of Aphrodite
Another fascinating object on view in the exhibition is a copper plaque inscribed with the names of victors in the Olympic Games. Found during excavations in Athens in 1994, the date of the last champion to be recorded on the plaque was 385. Eight years later, Emperor Theodosius I, a tough Christian soldier from Spain, outlawed the Olympic Games.
The banning of the Olympic Games, like the later closing of the Platonic Academy in Athens by Emperor Justinian I in 529 have contributed to the scorn of later historians for the Christian Roman Empire. The eastern part of the Roman Empire, based at its capital of Constantinople, survived the downfall of the western half during the fifth century. Gibbon categorized the story of the Eastern Roman Empire as “a tedious and uniform tale of weakness and misery.” Following in Gibbon’s footsteps, most Western historians have maintained a deep-seated prejudice against Byzantium, as the Eastern Empire is now almost universally known.
A number of the artifacts on display in Transition to Christianity reveal the reasons for the often high-handed actions of the Byzantine emperors. Surrounded by Germanic, Slavic and Persian enemies and beset by deep doctrinal divisions among Christian communities throughout the empire, rulers like Justinian I sought to enforce unity throughout an empire under almost constant siege. On view is a stash of gold coins from the sixth century, along with the ceramic jar that they were buried in to prevent them from being seized by invaders. Also displayed is a fragment of an inscription invoking God’s protection for the city of Amphipolis, located in northern Greece and a frequent target of barbarian attacks.
Under the Orthodox form of Christianity, which prevailed in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, the emperor was expected to play a major role in religious affairs. Constantine, the first emperor to embrace Christianity in 313, was revered as isapostolos or the “equal-to the-apostles.” His successors, especially Justinian, lavished huge sums on building churches like Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and for creating sacred objects to be used in these great basilicas.
On view is a surviving example of early Christian art from the fourth century, a glass bowl with gold leaf portraits of the Christian saints, Peter and Paul. This precious work of art is especially significant because such images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Christian saints were later depicted in portraits known as eikones. Created in a number of different media, including enamel and ceramics, mosaics, ivory carvings and textiles, as well as painting, icons assumed a central importance in Christian worship in the Eastern Roman Empire.
Bowl base with Saints Peter and Paul
This image of Saints Peter and Paul, from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, allows scholars to study the origins of icon painting. Several of the famous painted portraits on mummy caskets at Faiyum in Egypt during the first through third centuries are also displayed in the exhibition. These portraits, painted in the encaustic wax technique, contributed to the development of icons. From these unlikely sources evolved the tradition of icon painting, the quintessential Byzantine art form and one still practiced to this day.
Part of an encaustic icon of Christ
Icons are spiritual portraits, revered as ways to commune with God. Only one – and a fragment of an icon at that – is on view in this exhibit. If icons were cherished as portals to heaven, they were also denounced as objects of superstition. During a campaign of destruction by the puritanical military emperor, Leo III, 726 – 730, most of the early icons of Byzantium were consigned to the flames.
The icon on display was created in Egypt, most likely in the sixth century, and thus shows the link to the Faiyum mummy portraits. We know that is it a head of Christ because the expression “Emmanuel with us” appears in Greek on the left. An invocation in the Coptic language of Egypt is written on the right, “Brother Timotheos remember him before God twofold.”
Transition to Christianity is noteworthy for providing insight into the everyday lives of the people who experienced this spiritual transformation. Numerous objects from daily life, as well as religious ritual, appear in the exhibition. One of the most beautiful is the Marriage Ring of Aristophanes and Vigilantia, from the late fourth to early fifth century. A married couple appears in profile, with a cross above their heads. It was created by the intaglio process with the letters of their names in reverse. This ring thus had a practical purpose, enabling it to be used to create a seal on legal documents, perhaps the very marriage contract of the pair.
Marriage ring
Pragmatism also extended to the creation of items like the ornate fourth century necklace from Cyprus included in the exhibition. Emeralds, garnets and pearls were set in six golden rectangles, making this an eye-catching symbol of opulence. Although this particular necklace no doubt graced a noble woman of the empire, many found their way onto foreign necks as well. Such lavish items were frequently bestowed by the diplomats of Byzantium on barbarian warlords, gifts to those willing to fight as mercenaries or bribes to keep them from invading the empire.
Necklace, ca. 330–350
Small-scale art objects like the Marriage Ring of Aristophanes and Vigilantia are often difficult to display in art exhibitions. Inadequate lighting or the effect of displaying them side-by-side with a dozen or so similar coins or rings dulls the effect of their presentation. Not so in the Onassis Cultural Center exhibit.
The gallery of the Onassis Cultural Center is one of the most beautiful – and effective – exhibition spaces that I have every visited. The ground floor art galleries of the Onassis Cultural Center flank an atrium that is open to natural and artificial light pouring in from the first floor above. A cascading water feature and a fountain in the atrium complete the peace-enhancing effect. Some of the art objects are displayed in glass window settings, enabling viewers to appreciate the intricate workmanship of these small, precious treasures. The curators of the exhibition, Eugenia Chalkia and Anastasia Lazaridou, have enhanced this effect by displaying the art works in easily understood thematic groups.
Viewing these rare and often hauntingly beautiful works of art makes one wonder how the misconceptions about early Christian art and the role of Byzantium could ever have arisen. In the case of Edward Gibbon, he was unable to travel to Greece, still languishing under Turkish rule during the 1700′s. Later historians who did go were so overcome by “the pleasure of ruins” of the golden age of Classical Greece that they ignored the Byzantine era.
Significantly, it was a great British travel writer, Robert Byron, who first voiced a dissent to this Western bias toward Byzantium. Byron traveled to Greece during the 1920′s, the Greeks being impressed that he was a descendent of Lord Byron. He poured his close study of the archeological remains and surviving art of Byzantium into a number of thoughtful books, notably The Birth of Western Painting, published in 1930. But Byron was killed in a U-Boat attack early in World War II and his books on Byzantium went out-of-print. Little further progress was made during the post-war period, despite brilliant scholarship by Peter Brown of Princeton University and others, in correcting the ignorance in the popular mind of Byzantium’s cultural achievements.
Two dramatic events changed this deplorable situation to a remarkable degree. In 1977, an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art showcased the art of Byzantium’s first centuries. The Age of Spirituality assembled art covering the same period as Transition to Christianity, but coming for the most part from the Metropolitan’s own collection along with loans from the British Museum, the Louvre and other Western institutions. Bryon’s views on the vitality and lasting significance of Byzantine art were triumphantly vindicated.
A decade later, the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe opened important holdings of Byzantine art to the inspection of Western art lovers. Russia, the Ukraine, Bulgaria and other Slavic nations had embraced the Orthodox form of Christianity thanks to the efforts of Christian missionaries sent from Constantinople during the Middle Ages. Byzantine culture had decisively influenced the rise of civilization in the Slavic realms and the art of Eastern Europe continues to reflect this heritage. Important works of Byzantine art from Eastern Europe were highlighted at major exhibitions such as The Glory of Byzantium presented by the Metropolitan Museum in 1997, followed by Byzantium: Faith and Power in 2003.
A related exhibition, currently at New York University’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, is providing a fascinating look at one of the major archeological sites of Late Antiquity, the fortress city of Dura-Europos in Syria. Edge of Empires: Pagans, Jews and Christians at Roman Dura-Europos is on view until January 8, 2012.
Transition to Christianity, 3rd to 7th Century AD at the Onassis Cultural Center helps fill in new details uncovered about Byzantium since the earlier exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum. Like these previous displays of Byzantine art, it is playing a major role in the ongoing rediscovery of this misunderstood ancient culture. The Onassis Foundation was established to commemorate the memory of Alexander Onassis, the son of famed shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis, and to promote the appreciation of Greek culture. Transition to Christianity succeeds brilliantly.
The final objects on view in Transition to Christianity also provide a link to a new exhibition on Byzantium being prepared at the Metropolitan Museum for the spring of 2012, Byzantium and Islam. They also provide a poignant epilogue for the efforts by the early Christians and the emperors of the Eastern Roman Empire to create a unified, harmonious doctrine for the Christian religion.
In 1902, a set of nine silver plates were discovered on the island of Cyprus. These silver-cast plates depict episodes from the life of the young biblical hero, David, later the King of Israel. The control stamps on the back of these plates date them to the early years of the reign of Emperor Herakleios (610-41). Herakleios was the tragic hero of the Byzantine Empire. His daring military campaigns saved the empire from a massive two-pronged Persian and barbarian invasion. In one battle, Herakleios killed the Persian commander in hand-to-hand combat, a deed that is symbolized by David fighting a bear on one of the silver plates.
After the Persians were defeated, Herakleios tried to be a peace-maker among the contending Christian factions. But his last years, ironically like those of King David, were marked by incredible reversals of fortune. His attempt to resolve the doctrinal disputes within the Christian Church failed dismally. Then, he was blind-sided by the sudden invasion of the armies of Islam. A hastily-organized force sent to oppose the zealous warriors of the Prophet was massacred in 636 and Jerusalem had to be abandoned. Herakleios made the fateful decision to save what could be saved, rather than risk a further defeat leading to the fall of Constantinople. He died heart-broken in 641, but thanks to him the Byzantine Empire survived for centuries to come.
Three of the David Plates honoring Herakleios appear in the Onassis Cultural Center exhibition. These exquisite works of art, particularly the one featuring the marriage of David to Michal, daughter of King Saul, reveal the extent of the amazing cultural synthesis that took place in Byzantium between the third and seventh centuries. Christian and Jewish theology merge with the artistic forms of Greece and Rome on the David Plates. In these scenes, we see powerfully expressed the spiritual aspirations and resilience in the face of adversity that were the true hallmarks of the Christian Roman Empire.
Plate with marriage of David to Michal
Appearing at the Onassis Cultural Center, 645 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022:
Transition to Christianity: Art of Late Antiquity, 3rd – 7th Century AD, December 7, 2011 through May 14, 2012
The Onassis Cultural Center is located in Olympic Tower in the heart of midtown Manhattan, at 645 Fifth Avenue, entrances on 51st and 52nd Streets, between Madison and Fifth Avenues. It is open to the public Monday through Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm, except Christmas and New Year’s Day. Admission is free.
Turks sense dawn of new era of power and confidence
This week the Turkish President, Abdullah Gul came to Britain on a successful three day State Visit. Turkey is a rising power and this was demonstrated in a number of ways this week. Perhaps the two most relevant being its increasingly important role in the crisis in Syria, and also its economic strength when compared to the debt ridden states of the EU. Whilst perhaps admiring Turkey’s progress we should not forget that in the late 19th Century the Ottomans were addicted to loans from European banks, and had to eventually agree to having their tax revenue collected by private companies imposed by the Great Powers.
By Bridget Kendall
BBC Diplomatic correspondent, Istanbul
The dome next to Istanbul’s ancient walls is one of the city’s newest tourist attractions. The 360 degree panorama, complete with sound effects of cannon fire and fighting, depicts the moment in 1453 when the Byzantine city of Constantinople was seized by the Turkish Sultan.
On the painted walls, Ottoman troops are poised for the final assault. Across the sky, flaming firebombs leave smoking trails. Close up the battle is already raging. The city’s walls are crumbling. Soon Constantinople will fall and the era of the Ottoman Empire will begin.
The dome is crammed with excited Turkish children on school trips, all visibly impressed by this vista of a glorious past.
“It’s a significant moment, the salvation of Istanbul,” says 15-year-old Jansu. “There’s nothing bigger… It really gives you a great feeling.”
‘Diplomatic bridge’
Turkey’s prime minister was greeted by crowds in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt Turkey today is booming. And with its growing economic clout has come a new assertiveness that has led some to wonder if it harbours neo-Ottoman ambitions to resurrect its role as a dominant power in the Middle East.
Turkish diplomats dismiss talk of neo-Ottomanism. They point out that Turkey is a loyal member of the Nato alliance, an important EU trading partner, and that it remains firmly committed to reforms to make it eligible for EU membership, should that moment ever come.
It is, they emphasise, a diplomatic bridge between East and West, not a power with imperial designs.
Yet in recent years, Turkey has not always acted in concert with the West. It forged separate and closer ties with Iran. Differences over Gaza plunged its relations with Israel into a deep freeze. Autocratic Arab leaders including Colonel Gaddafi of Libya and President Assad of Syria were courted as part of a new policy of ‘zero problems with neighbours’.
Islam and modernity
That policy was swiftly reversed when parts of the Arab world descended into turmoil this year. But Turkey has not taken a back seat. Now it presents itself to the new governments of the Arab Spring as a model, a useful example to show that Islam and modernity can go together.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was greeted by cheering crowds on a triumphant tour of Tunisia, Libya and Egypt recently.
Once an ally of President Assad, he has turned into one of the Syrian regime’s most strident critics, threatening sanctions and deliberately offering sanctuary to Syrian opposition groups.
Suleiman the Magnificent is Turkey’s latest wildly successful soap opera In Istanbul you will find members of the Syrian opposition demonstrating outside the Syrian Consulate after Friday prayers. A small clutch of protesters huddles, waving flags and calling for President Assad to go. The opposition members in exile are grateful for Turkey’s willingness to give them a home but fearful of what may happen next.
“There is a very dangerous situation in Syria,” says Omar Shawad of the Syrian National Council. “President Assad has no friends anymore, except perhaps Iran. So he has no exit and that means he’ll fight to the end.”
He added that if the outside world, with support from the Arab League and at the United Nations, did decide to take action, then it would be Turkey in the north and Jordan on Syria’s southern border, who would be the key players:
“If there is an intervention in Syria,” he said, “It would need to have a base, and that base can only be here, so Turkey is very important.”
And Turkey has much at stake in the outcome. If somehow the Assad regime were to survive, there would surely be no way back to neighbourly relations. But getting drawn in to any kind of intervention that might mean Turkish troops on Syrian and therefore Arab soil might also be risky.
‘Soft power’
But it is not just Turkey’s political rhetoric and its potential for military action that enhance its projection of power. There is also ‘soft power’, cultural exports which are strengthening links with neighbours in other ways.
On a film lot in the Istanbul suburbs, a set has been meticulously crafted to replicate interiors of the Ottoman Sultan’s palace.
The film crew is hurriedly adjusting the lighting; make-up artists are giving a final check to the cast. Concubines to the emperor shiver slightly in their satin gowns and filmy veils, waiting for the signal to start.
Suleiman the Magnificent is Turkey’s latest wildly successful soap opera. Set during the 16th century, when the Ottoman Empire held sway over much of the Middle East, it is a rags to riches story, redolent with seething passions and secret politics.
The co-directors are two brothers, Yagmur and Durul Taylan. They believe that the appeal of the series lies in nostalgia, a harking back to a golden age.
“Everyone wants to get power. In Turkey we all want to feel like Suleiman,” says Durul.
“Because we want to be a big and powerful country again,” adds Yagmur. “You can feel it when you talk to people in Turkey today.”
Modern Muslim democracy
But Turkey’s soap operas are also sending another message that has proved an unexpected tool of foreign policy further afield.
Soap operas set in Istanbul have inspired a big increase in tourism, their distributors say On a pleasure boat along the Bosphorus, a tour group of young Arab couples on honeymoon watch the shoreline from the deck. As the boat passes an elegant sultan’s palace and they all rush to take a photo.
They know the palace well, it’s an exterior used in another Turkish soap opera which has taken the Middle East by storm. Since these television dramas captured audiences of millions in the region, the numbers of Arab tourists flocking to Turkey has, according to the distributors, gone up 10-fold in six years.
Hamza and Raja are on honeymoon from Jordan. He is in jeans and a jacket. She is wearing a face veil.
Turkey, they explain, is an exotic but safe option. Like its soap operas, it is familiar but exciting, offering an aspiration of what they would like their country to be: a Muslim country, but modern and European as well.
So coming to Istanbul is a chance to experience a Western-style country without the risks of venturing too far into the unknown.
But for some Turkish intellectuals in Istanbul that aspiration is paradoxical: contemporary Turkey may have been demilitarized, but not everyone thinks that Turkey has yet won the right to put itself forward as a model of a modern Muslim democracy.
At the Istanbul International Book Fair, there is a crush at one bookstall. Crowds of supporters have gathered in support of a well known publisher and columnist, Ragip Zarakolu, whose posters are plastered on the walls.
He was recently detained and is being held without charge, one of dozens arrested as part of a vast operation against presumed sympathisers of outlawed Kurdish groups.
According to the International Press Institute, Turkey has more journalists in prison than either China or Iran. Many have not been charged.
The government argues that its wide ranging anti-terrorist laws are necessary to get on top of a destructive Kurdish insurgency which has this autumn once again become a major problem.
But critics say the Erdogan government has also started to use the laws to intimidate journalists and academics who dare to speak out, and is in danger of succumbing to the authoritarian tendencies which many in Turkey had hoped were a thing of the past.
Nuray Mert is a political scientist at Istanbul University and a commentator for the daily newspaper Milliyet. She also used to have a TV show, but that was cancelled after the prime minister lashed out at her in public, more or less accusing her of treason.
This autumn a transcript of a private phone conversation between herself and a friend who is now in prison was leaked to a pro-government newspaper, alongside commentaries accusing her of expressing sympathy for Kurdish separatists. The public condemnation has unnerved her. She says she is now worried about her personal safety.
“The real tension began two years ago,” she said, “with my criticism of politics getting more and more authoritarian, rather than more and more democratic. Turkey’s people are very nationalistic and the problem is the government encourages any public reaction against anyone who is critical of government policy.”
There is an irony here: a governing party which wins landslide elections through genuine popularity but which rejects criticism as unpatriotic. And it leaves a question mark.
How can Turkey position itself as a major power with real influence in the region, unless it addresses flaws at home, and first and foremost troubling limits on media freedom?
Byzantine Prayer Box Found in Jerusalem Dig
The miniature box adorned with cross dates from 6-7 century AD. It contains two icons surrounded by gold leaf.
By Gil Ronen
First Published in IsraelNationalNews.com 27 Oct 2011
Archaeologists in Jerusalem discovered a miniature Christian prayer box that dates back to the sixth or seventh century CE.
The box was found at the “Givati parking lot” dig in Ir David. Dig supervisors noted that illustrated Byzantine holy objects are very rarely found in the Holy Land.
The box contained two icon paintings surrounded by gold leaf and was probably a personal prayer object. It is 2.2 cm. (about 0.9 inch) long by 1.6 cm. wide and is made from the bone of a large animal – cattle, a camel or a horse.
The find was presented by dig supervisor Yana Tchekhanovets, along with Israel Antiquities Authority’s Dr. Doron Ben Ami.
One painting inside the box depicts a bearded man with dark hair, wearing what appears to be a white tunic. The other painting seems to show a female figure dressed in blue. Similar boxes were found on bodies discovered in burial caves in the Moshchevaya Balka site in the northern Caucasus.
Photographs of early Christian churches in the Cappadocia region on view at Penn Museum
Ahmet Ertug, Meryem Ana Kilisesi (Church of the Mother of God) Turkey, Capadocia. First half of the 11th century AD
.. if you happen to be in Philadelphia …
The grandeur of Byzantine Christian art —preserved through the ages in early Christian churches in the Cappadocia region of Turkey —is the focus of a large-scale photography exhibition at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia.
Vaults of Heaven: Visions of Byzantium, an exhibition of 13 color photographs by renowned Turkish photographer Ahmet Ertug, is on view October 15, 2011 through February 12, 2012. Ertug’s photographs document the interiors of three churches— the Karankik Kilise (Dark Church), the New Church of Tokali (Buckle Church), and the Meryem Ana Kilisesi (Church of the Mother of God)—all more than 1,000 years old and all UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The photographs include close-up views of elaborate wall paintings depicting classic Christian scenes from the life of Christ and images of saints. Also included are images revealing the dramatic interior architecture of these churches, places that have inspired, and continue to inspire generations of worshippers and admirers.
Photographer Ahmet Ertug, a 1974 graduate of the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, practiced architecture in England, Iran, and Turkey. His commitment to photography started with a year-long Japan Foundation Fellowship to study architecture in Japan, where he traveled extensively and photographed the ancient temples, Zen gardens, and festivals. Later, home in Istanbul, he has photographed much of that city’s impressive Byzantine, Ottoman, and Roman remains, using a large-format camera that has enabled him to capture their full splendor. In the 1980s, he established his own publishing house, producing 25 specially designed books of his photographs that are now recognized for their innovation in the printing industry.
His photographs have been exhibited widely around the world; a permanent exhibition of his Hagia Sophia photographs is on display in the upper gallery of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.
Qsar-Libya a Byzantine oasis in the Libyan desert
These mosaics are from the sixth century. Some lovely pictures from the ancient church of Qsar-Libya. (the ancient city of Theodoureas). The city was rebuilt by Justinian in the name of his wife Theodora. The curious thing about this archaeological site is that even being part of a church, the mosaics are representations of animal figures and even pagan. Let’s hope that they survived the recent conflict.
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These images are from a public site on Facebook. Some more images here and here.
Syria upheaval halts race to reveal secrets of ancient fort
The Zalabiyeh citadel was mysteriously abandoned in the 8th century
Archaeologists despair of completing excavation work on site before it is flooded by new dam.
By Charlotte McDonald-Gibson
Published in the Independent Friday, 14 October 2011
Anti-government protests gripping Syria have forced archaeologists to abandon excavation work on ancient ruins on the banks of the Euphrates, with the little-explored sites now at risk of being lost forever when a planned dam floods the area.
Construction on the Halabiyeh hydropower dam begins next year, despite opposition from cultural and environmental experts, leaving a narrow window before many Bronze Age, Roman and Byzantine sites disappear beneath the waters. Archaeologists working on the Byzantine-era fortress of Zalabiyeh say they were on the cusp of finding out why the citadel was abandoned in the 8th century, but as the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad gathers pace and the regime unleashes its forces to crush it, the experts have been forced to pull out.
Dr Emma Loosley, an archaeologist and art historian with the University of Manchester, was invited by Syria’s Department of Antiquities to work on the site. She said Zalabiyeh overlooked the narrowest point in the Euphrates, and was on a vital trading route.
“It contains evidence of continuous human settlement through many civilisations including the Assyrian, Roman, Arab – it is an astonishing area to work in and one of the most important in the world,” she said. “So our work to understand as much as we can before it disappears is hugely important and I hope to be able to go back as soon as it is safe to do so.” She told The Independent that the fortress – occupied for only a few hundred years – provided a perfect “time capsule” of day-to-day life at the end of the Byzantine era and during early Muslim expansion across what is now the Arab world.
Spanish archaeologists were working further upstream on a Bronze Age site and French teams had been trying to find ways to protect the larger settlement of Halabiyeh on the opposite bank, a complex of 3rd-century ruins already starting to attract tourists. A report in 2008 for Unesco, the UN cultural body, warned that the dam would cause water levels to rise by 14 metres (46ft), submerging a third of the site.
Dr Loosley’s team had determined that a fire swept through Zalabiyeh. They were due to start examining whether it was caused by accident or attack when they were told by the Syrians to cancel this year’s trip, as protests that began in March spread inland. Up to 50 people were reported killed in August in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour, the gateway to the archaeological sites. During similar pro-democracy uprisings in Libya and Egypt, museums were looted and historical sites, and Syria’s official news agency has already reported pillaging in the ancient city of Apamea in the west.
Dr Loosley worries for the safety of artefacts uncovered by last year’s dig, and stored at the Deir al-Zour museum. New sanctions against Syria have also prevented her paying the man guarding the site. The Syrian Embassy in London said only that all sites were “well protected by Syrian authorities”, but would not comment on whether work on the dam was going ahead.
Irene: the Ruthless Monarch Who Lent a Hurricane Her Name
Millions are braced for the onslaught of Hurricane Irene as it rakes across the U.S.’s eastern seaboard. For the tens of thousands forced to flee the storm’s path, its name will only be remembered as the source of panic and destruction, an unwelcome conclusion to the summer months. Fair enough. As TIME’s Kayla Webley explained during hurricane season last year, the names of tropical storms get assigned in an all-together boring, mechanical process. But the legacy of Irene — ironic already because it’s a name derived from the Greek word for “peace” — or at least that of history’s first prominent Irene, is worth considering. First published in Time
I liked the idea of this as an article. But when I read it I found it so full of factual errors that I could not publish it – please follow the link above if you wish.
Instead here is a profile of this amazing woman from Wikipedia.
Irene of Athens – Early life and rise to power
Irene was born to a noble Greek family of Athens, the Sarantapechos family. Although she was an orphan, her uncle, Constantine Sarantapechos, was a patrician and possibly strategos of the theme of Hellas. She was brought to Constantinople by Emperor Constantine V on November 1, 769, and was married to his son Leo IV on December 17. Although she appears to have come from a noble family, there is no clear reason as to why she would have been chosen as Leo’s bride, leading some scholars to speculate that she was selected in a bride-show, in which eligible women were paraded before the bridegroom, until one was finally selected.
On January 14, 771, Irene gave birth to a son, the future Constantine VI. When Constantine V died in September 775, Leo was to succeed to the throne at the age of twenty-five years. Leo, though an iconoclast (opposed theologically to the veneration of icons), pursued a policy of moderation towards iconodules (those who venerated icons), but his policies became much harsher in August 780, when a number of courtiers were punished for icon-veneration. According to tradition, he discovered icons concealed among Irene’s possessions and refused to share the marriage bed with her thereafter. Nevertheless, when Leo died on September 8, 780, Irene became regent for their nine-year old Constantine.
Irene was almost immediately confronted with a conspiracy which she heard was to raise to the throne the Caesar Nikephoros, a half-brother of Leo IV. To overcome this challenge, she had Nikephoros and his co-conspirators ordained as priests, a status which disqualified them from ruling, and ordered them to administer Holy Communion on Christmas Day.
As early as 781, Irene began to seek a closer relationship with the Carolingian dynasty and the Papacy. She negotiated a marriage between her son and Rotrude, a daughter of Charlemagne by his third wife Hildegard. Irene went as far as to send an official to instruct the Frankish princess in Greek; however, Irene herself broke off the engagement in 787, against her son’s wishes.
Irene next had to subdue a rebellion led by Elpidius, the strategos of Sicily, whose family was tortured and imprisoned, while a fleet was sent, which succeeded in defeating the Sicilians. Elpidius fled to Africa, where he defected to the Arabs. After the success of Constantine V’s general, Michael Lachanodrakon, who foiled an Arab attack on the eastern frontiers, the strategos of the Bucellarian Theme, Tatzates, defected to the Arabs, but due to the failure of negotiations Irene had to agree to pay an annual tribute of 70 or 90,000 dinars to the Arabs for a three year truce, give them 10,000 silk garments and provide them with guides, provisions and access to markets during their withdrawal.
Rule and resolution of the Iconoclasm controversy
Her most notable act was the restoration of the Orthodox veneration of icons (images of Christ or the saints). Having elected Tarasios, one of her partisans, to the patriarchate in 784, she summoned two church councils. The first of these, held in 786 at Constantinople, was frustrated by the opposition of the soldiers. The second, convened at Nicaea in 787, formally revived the veneration of icons and reunited the Eastern church with that of Rome.[1] (See Seventh Ecumenical Council.)
While this improved relations with the Papacy, it did not prevent the outbreak of a war with the Franks, who took over Istria and Benevento in 788. In spite of these reverses, Irene’s military efforts met with some success: in 782 her favoured courtier Staurakios subdued the Slavs of the Balkans and laid the foundations of Byzantine expansion and re-Hellenization in the area. Nevertheless, Irene was constantly harried by the Arabs, and in 782 and 798 had to accept the terms of the respective Caliphs Al-Mahdi and Harun al-Rashid.
As Constantine approached maturity he began to grow restless under her autocratic sway. An attempt to free himself by force was met and crushed by the empress, who demanded that the oath of fidelity should thenceforward be taken in her name alone. The discontent which this occasioned swelled in 790 into open resistance, and the soldiers, headed by the Armeniacs, formally proclaimed Constantine VI as the sole ruler.
A hollow semblance of friendship was maintained between Constantine and Irene, whose title of empress was confirmed in 792; but the rival factions remained, and Irene, by skillful intrigues with the bishops and courtiers, organized a powerful conspiracy on her own behalf. Constantine could only flee for aid to the provinces, but even there participants in the plot surrounded him. Seized by his attendants on the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus, Constantine was carried back to the palace at Constantinople; there, his eyes were gouged out. He died from his wounds several days later. A solar eclipse and a darkness of 17 days’ duration were attributed by common superstition to the horror of Heaven.
Although it is often claimed that, as monarch, Irene called herself “basileus” (βασιλεύς), ‘emperor’, rather than “basilissa” (βασίλισσα), ‘empress’, in fact there are only three instances where it is known that she used the title “basileus”: two legal documents in which she signed herself as “Emperor of the Romans” and a gold coin of hers found in Sicily bearing the title of “basileus”. In relation to the coin, the lettering is of poor quality and the attribution to Irene may, therefore, be problematic. In reality, she used the title “basilissa” in all other documents, coins and seals.
Legacy
Irene reigned for five years, from 797 to 802. Pope Leo III, who needed help against enemies in Rome and who saw the throne of the Byzantine emperor as vacant (lacking a male occupant), crowned Charlemagne as Roman Emperor in 800. This was seen as an insult to Byzantium and the Orthodox Church and caused another rift between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Nevertheless, Irene is said to have endeavoured to negotiate a marriage between herself and Charlemagne; but according to Theophanes the Confessor, who alone mentions it, the scheme was frustrated by Aetios, one of her favourites.[3]
In 802 the patricians conspired against her and placed on the throne Nikephoros, the minister of finance (logothetēs tou genikou). Irene was exiled to Lesbos and forced to support herself by spinning. She died the following year.
Her zeal in restoring the icons and monasteries made Theodore the Studite praise her as a saint[4] of the Eastern Orthodox Church, but she was not canonized. Claims about her supposed canonization are mainly from Western sources.[5] Such claims are not supported by the Menaion (the official liturgical book providing the propers of the saints of the Orthodox Church), the “Lives of Saints” by Nikodemos the Hagiorite, or any other relative book of the Orthodox Church.
Family
By her marriage to Emperor Leo IV the Khazar, Irene had only one son Constantine VI, whom she succeeded on the throne. A female relative of Irene, Theophano was chosen in 807 by Emperor Nikephoros I as the bride of his son and heir Staurakios. An unnamed female relative was married to the Bulgar ruler Telerig in 776. Irene also had a nephew.
A Byzantine mystery in Mexico City?
I was sent the following pictures by blog reader Raul Garcia who lives in Mexico. Some years ago he bought an interesting silver item in a flea market. It is indeed very unusual and Raul wonders if anyone can help him to identify it as he thinks it may possibly be of Byzantine origin. Such a piece in Mexico is not totally unlikely. For one thing it could have been brought to Mexico by some settler. We also know from the writings of Patrick Leigh Fermor that there are people from the Greek diaspora to be found even in Central America; perhaps they brought it with them? Then of course it could be from somewhere else.
Can you help? If so do get in touch via email tsawford [at] btinternet.com or the comments page.
Here is Raul’s note to me:
My name is Raul Garcia and I live in Mexico. It is the first time I visit your blog and found it very interesting and rich in contents; that’s why I wanted to share you the following, hoping to get some help and orientation regarding a very antique and rare silver piece I purchased about 8 years ago in a flea market in downtown Mexico City. The piece has very unique characteristics and particularly, some engravings that I suspect might be Greek in their origin (but since I can’t read them I can’t be sure). The piece depicts (in my humble opinion) some important passages of the Byzantine Empire and I would like to send you some pictures to your consideration, in order to be able to know whether the piece holds some historical value or significance. It would be great to share these pictures with everyone here, hoping to get invaluable opinions and more accurate information regarding this piece. Please let me know how can I send you the pictures.
Temple of the ‘Bride of the Desert’
Originally built in worship of Bel, a Mesopotamian god of the sky, the temple in subsequent centuries also served as a Byzantine church and later a mosque.
Each night at sunset, the “bride of the desert,” as she has been known for centuries, gets dressed for her wedding. In those last moments of daylight, she dons a robe of stunning colors—the buttery yellow of her limestone columns mixing with the blue shadows of her temples and the soft pinks of the desert floor. It is a scene that has inspired countless cultural suitors over the centuries, from Persians and Romans to Georgian Britons and Arab Nationalists. But could a new suitor materialize out of the current turmoil in Syria?
By Christian Sahner
First published in the Wall Street Journal
“She” is the ancient city of Palmyra—one of the most arrestingly beautiful archaeological sites in the Middle East. Her ruins, dating from the three centuries after Christ, lay strewn across a desert oasis 150 miles northeast of Damascus. A slice of Roman civility in this sun-scorched waste, Palmyra is home to majestic colonnades, public baths, stately mausoleums and temples galore.
First settled in the third millennium B.C., the city made her fortunes as a trading depot. Silk, Palmyra’s prized commodity, began its westward journey at the Indian port of Barbaricon, passing by boat to Seleucia and Babylon, before traveling by caravan to Palmyra, and then on to the Mediterranean coast.
Palmyra’s importance also depended on her strategic location between the two greatest powers of the ancient world: Rome and Persia. Recognizing this, the emperor Tiberius, who reigned from A.D. 14 to 37, transformed Palmyra into a client state and a buffer against his eastern rivals. Despite its formal submission to Rome, however, Palmyra retained a measure of autonomy. Its society was dominated by a small clique of ruling families, tribal bluebloods who met in a local senate. In 252, as Rome lost control over the region, one of these families established itself as a royal dynasty, led by its famous first king, Odenathus.
Syria’s eastern desert—a still sea of sand and rock partitioning two empires—gave rise to one of the richest, most eclectic civilizations of the ancient world. We can see this distinctive mixture most clearly in the city’s art and architecture, especially its greatest monument, the Sanctuary of Bel.
Constructed around the turn of the first millennium A.D., the Sanctuary of Bel still dominates Palmyra and the modern city of Tadmor that sits beside it. Bel was originally a Mesopotamian god of the sky, who merged with Zeus as Roman religion spread throughout the Levant. The plan of the sanctuary complex, now a dignified patchwork of ruins, is quintessentially Syrian, with a small central temple surrounded by an expansive precinct known as the temenos. Worshipers would enter this area through a massive gate, or propylaeum, before processing toward a sacrificial altar and basin.
Built along a north-south axis, Palmyra’s temple contains two niches, or adyta, that once housed the cult statues of Bel, Iarhibol and Aglibol, members of the city’s divine triad. The statues in the northern adyton were probably permanent, while those on the south side were portable, paraded around the city on major feast days.
Another striking feature of the temple is the delicate stone carving found above the two adyta. On the north side, there is a much-eroded zodiac motif, set within a detailed coffered ceiling. On the south side, a large acanthus medallion sprouts amid a field of stone rosettes, as delicate as on the day they were first chiseled. In the late 18th century, these designs found their way into the parlors of posh English homes, thanks to the sketches of the antiquarians James Dawkins and Robert Wood, who visited Palmyra in 1751.
The most vivid iconography at Palmyra is found just outside the main entrance of the temple, carved onto a group of fallen beams. One depicts a Palmyrene religious procession, with a camel carrying a curtained “tabernacle” atop its back, followed by a group of veiled women. It is a scene strikingly reminiscent of medieval Islamic paintings of the pilgrimage caravan—and here one realizes the surprising story of cultural continuity at Palmyra. Indeed, stepping back inside the temple, one senses that this place had a religious afterlife well after the Roman period—first as a Byzantine church, indicated by faint frescoes of saints decorating the temple walls, and later as a mosque, suggested by the rough-hewn prayer niche inside the southern adyton.
The Sanctuary of Bel would have been familiar turf to Palmyra’s most famous resident, Queen Zenobia, who ruled here between 267 and 274. She came to power as Rome was reeling from a string of military coups and provincial rebellions. No longer content to play the lapdog, Zenobia dispatched her troops throughout the Roman Near East, establishing a short-lived empire that stretched from Asia Minor to Egypt. It did not take long for Rome to notice. In 274, the emperor Aurelian retaliated, marching 40,000 of his men into the desert to subdue this “new Cleopatra.” Zenobia was captured and eventually brought to Rome in golden chains—a melancholy trophy from a failed revolt.
In modern times, Zenobia has become a patriotic symbol in Syria—an Arab nationalist avant la lettre who threw off the yoke of imperialism and tyranny. She appears on Syrian money and stars in a thinly veiled television miniseries about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Zenobia is even the subject of a glowing biography—or more accurately, a heavy-handed meditation on power politics—by Gen. Mustafa Tlass, the longtime Syrian defense minister and an architect of the Baathist state.
As with many historical symbols in modern Syria, there is a certain ambiguity in the regime’s promotion of Zenobia. Not far from where the queen once defended freedom stands the abandoned Tadmor Prison, where political prisoners used to languish in fetid terror, and where Syrian commandos famously massacred hundreds of inmates in 1980. One wonders what Zenobia would have made of this place, or of the crackdowns that have roiled Syria over the past few months. One suspects she would have found the violence altogether more “Roman” than “Palmyrene.”
—Mr. Sahner, a Rhodes Scholar, is a doctoral candidate in history at Princeton University
“Serdica is my Rome” – International congress on Byzantine heritage in Bulgaria a great success
Press image to play
These words belonged to Emperor Constantine the Great who had a Roman palace in the center of Sofia, called Serdica back then, and ruled his domains from there.
From Press TV
That’s why, in an intense competition with other metropolises, the capital of Bulgaria gained the honor of hosting a World Congress on Byzantine heritage.
Minister Ignatov, a professor of ancient history himself, greeted over a thousand delegates from 46 countries who – under the patronage of Bulgarian President Parvanov, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) – gathered for a week to attend numerous exhibitions, seminars, lectures, book fairs, sight-seeings. And all of these with one purpose only: to shed new light on the enormous heritage of one of the most prominent civilizations in the history of mankind.
Byzantine existed for over a millennium, from 395 to 1453, and managed to establish a steady socio-political formation which covered regions of different cultural, ethnic and religious background such as South East Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa.
These regions are currently in unrest and often enough under foreign pressure. And delegates to this Congress want to remind the international community that those are desandents of ancient and mighty civilizations with bigger historical legitimacy and global importance than current Western states which strive at being hegemonic powers – sometimes by all means and at all costs.
And that’s exactly where Western political megalomania and military adventurism is often leading to, experts say – without taking into consideration the fact that the events which took place in Byzantine, and the processing happening in the Middle East and North Africa now are unique, and no foreign interference could produce good results.
As the only solid state in Europe during the Middle Ages, Byzantine isolated the West from newly emerging powers of the East. And for centuries now, Western historians have used the term Byzantinism as a substitute for decadence and duplicity, as a body of religious, political, and philosophical ideas which ran contrary to those of the West. Delegates to this World Congress are here to remind the West that these ideas are not diminished.
Greek monastery on slide to safety
Workers finalise preparations to transport the 12th Century monastery Holy Virgin of Tornikio to higher ground, near the northern Greek city of Grevena. (Nikolas Giakoumidis, AP)
THESSALONIKI, Greece — Engineers in northern Greece on Thursday began a costly operation to move a 12th-century Byzantine monastery that occupies land earmarked for a hydroelectric dam, an AFP photographer said.
The state-run Public Power Corporation is spending 850,000 euros ($1.2 million) on the project near the city of Grevena to drag the 260-tonne building to higher ground before an artificial lake floods the area.
Sliding on a 50-tonne tracked platform equipped with hydraulic pistons, the monastery is to be moved some 120 metres (400 feet) from its current location including 27 metres (88 feet) uphill, according to organisers.
“It is not the first time that this technique is applied,” said engineer Dimitris Korres.
“With good weather conditions the building could move up to 30 metres per day.”
The uninhabited stone monastery dedicated to the Holy Virgin of Tornikio contains valuable murals dated to the 15th and 18th centuries.
It was badly damaged in a 1995 earthquake but underwent repairs a decade ago.
The Ilarion hydroelectric project is expected to generate 413 gigawatt hours (GWh) annually and meet the water supply and irrigation needs of Thessaloniki and outlying agricultural areas.
From AFP
A crane stands next to the 12th century monastery of the Holy Virgin of Tornikio (AFP, Sakis Mitrolidis)
