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Nerezi, Church of Saint Panteleimon
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Place
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Hist.:
The Inscription preserved on the marble architrave above the main entrance into the naos of Nerězi informs us, that the church was dedicated to St. Panteleimon and decorated at the expense of Alexios Angelos Komnenos in September of the thirteenth indiction of the year 1164, when the hegumenos was the monk Ioannikos (Ἐκαλλιεργήθη ὁ ναὸς τοῦ ἁγίου καὶ ἐνδόξου μεγαλομάρτυρος Παντελεήμονος ἐκ συνδρομῆς κυροῦ Ἀλεξίου τοῦ Κομνηνοῦ καὶ υἱοῦ τῆς πορφυρογεννήτης κυρᾶς Θεοδώρας μηνὶ Σεπτεμβρίῳ ἰνδικτιῶνος ῖγ ἔτους ΣΧΟΓ ἡγουμενεύοντος Ἰωαννικίου μοναχοῦ). King Stefan Uroš II Milutin donated the church of Saint Panteleimon near Vōdno/Nerězi to the Monastery of Saint George-Gorg (Vōdno selo prida kraljevstvo mi, i vь njemь monastirь svetaïa Bogorodica Jeleusa sь svetymь Ḟeōdōromь nadь Vodnomь i sь svetymь Pandeleimonomь i sь svetymь Ḟeodoromь iže jestь vь Hvaštihь, jedno bo jestь selo Vodno i Nerězi, sь vinogradi, sь nivijemь, sь voděničijemь, sь sěnokosi, sь lovišti zvěrnimi i sь ribnimi, sь zaběli i sь vsěmi pravinami ihь).
Mon.:
General description: The church of St. Panteleimon was commissioned by a member of the Byzantine imperial family, Alexios Angelos Komnenos. As recorded on a dedicatory inscription, the church was built for a monastery endowed by the wealthy patron.
Architecture: Nerezi is a small, five-domed church, 15.90 m long by 9.60 m wide. Irregular in its layout, the church is of a rhomboidal, rather than a standard rectangular form. The interior of Nerezi is composed of a cruciform naos, a bema, a narthex and four side chapels located between the arms of the cross. Its plan reveals one of the oldest formulations of the inscribed-cross scheme. In this case, as in some of the ninth-century churches in Constantinople, the cruciform domed naos is accompanied by four domed chapels segregated from it by solid walls. The design of Nerezi, with subsidiary chapels placed between the arms of the cross and spatially integrated with the narthex, is commonly found in cruciform churches. The liturgical furnishings at Nerezi also suggest that its chapels might have been used for funerary rites and perhaps for rites connected with the benediction of water. The arcosolium in its north-west chapel indicates that some kind of a funerary rite was performed there. The exterior of Nerezi is distinguished by five domes. The central dome is elevated on an octagonal drum and reaches the height of 11.70 m. The four subsidiary domes are raised on cubical drums, reaching the height of 9.00 m. The drums are perforated by single-light windows on each of their faces. The lower portion of the building is enlivened by perforations, projecting apses and recessed blind niches. The north and south facades each feature a three-light window in the lower register topped by a two light window in the upper register. The east facade is distinguished by the three-light window of the central apse and the two single-light windows of the side apses. The west facade displays the main entry flanked by the two single-light windows on the north and south sides. The lowest portion of the church, the dado zone, is barely distinguishable. The most distinguishing feature of the exterior of Nerezi is the constellation of its five domes. That feature places Nerezi within a small distinctive group of preserved Byzantine five-domed churches.
State of preservation: In its present form, Nerezi represents a twentieth-century interpretation of an original Byzantine church. The sixteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century earthquakes took their toll on the building and necessitated a number of reconstructions. In consequence, the church now incorporates considerable reconstructions and newly added portions executed in modern materials, all of which obscure its original shape.
Painted decoration:
The twelfth-century frescoes: The original, twelfth-century paintings dominate the church and are responsible for the impact of its interior. They have been preserved, with minor losses, in all four subsidiary chapels, and in the naos and the bema up to the level of the springing point of the arches. Even the narthex which was largely rebuilt, displays fragments of the original decoration on its east, north and south walls. The twelfth-century frescoes are distinguished as exquisite examples of Komnenian art, attributed to Constantinopolitan masters. Moreover, since no painted cycle from the middle of the twelfth century has been preserved in the capital, Nerezi assumes an important role in our understanding of twelfth-century Byzantine painting in general. On the most basic level, the painted program at Nerezi follows the pattern of decoration traditionally used in cross-in-square and cruciform churches of the Middle Byzantine period. The scenes at Nerezi exhibit hierarchical arrangement in zones and correspond to architectural units. Thus, the liturgical scenes are placed in the bema, the cycle of the life of Christ and the images of saints are depicted in the naos, and the scenes from the life of the patron saint occupy the narthex. Also traditional at Nerezi is the vertical hierarchy. The image of Christ (repainted in the sixteenth century) occupies the central cupola; the scenes of the life of Christ are placed in the upper zone of the walls; and the lower zone of the walls displays the images of saints.
Style: The style of Nerezi’s paintings is characterized by the elegance and sophistication of the figures, by their psychological differentiation, by dramatic coloristic effects, and above all, by the masterful handling of line. Line defines figures, creates their draperies and physiognomies, articulates movement and emotional content, facilitates tonal gradation, and unifies figures into larger compositional groups. While the linearity of images at Nerezi complies with the stylistic koine of twelfth-century art, the high quality of its execution, as scholars have pointed out, suggests Constantinople as a source of influence. Moreover, since no painted cycle from the middle of the twelfth century has been preserved in the capital, Nerezi assumes an important role in our understanding of the stylistic development of twelfth century Byzantine painting in general.
Post-Byzantine frescoes: The interior of Nerezi, as it appears today, is composed of two distinct groups of paintings: the post-Byzantine cycle in the upper portions of the church, and the original, twelfth-century paintings on the walls. Due to earthquakes of the sixteenth and early nineteenth centuries most of the upper areas of the church lost their original decoration and were re-painted.
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