Church of Prophet Elijah (Thessaloniki)

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessalonika
Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List

Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iv
Reference	456
UNESCO region	Europe
Coordinates	40°38′27″N 22°56′55″E / 40.640883°N 22.948543°E / 40.640883; 22.948543
Inscription history
Inscription	1988 (12th Session)

The Church of Prophet Elijah (Greek: Ναός Προφήτη Ηλία) is a 14th-century church in Thessaloniki, Greece, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The church is located in the upper quarter of the old city, and dates to the Palaiologan period, but its original dedication is unknown. In Ottoman times, it was known as the Saraylı Mosque, and through a misinterpretation of this name came about its modern dedication to the Prophet Elijah. It has been traditionally identified as the katholikon of the Nea Moni monastery, built ca. 1360–1370 on the site of a former palace destroyed in 1342 by the Zealot uprising.^[1] Modern research however has cast doubt on this, since the Nea Moni continued to operate well into the Ottoman period, while the church of Prophet Elijah was converted into a mosque by Badrah Mustafa Pasha immediately after the city's capture in 1430. On the basis of its internal decoration, it has been suggested that the church was the katholikon of the important Akapniou Monastery.^[2]

Its architectural style, a variant of cross-in-square church known as the "Athonite type", is unique in the city, and was always reserved for katholika of monasteries. The careful masonry, of alternating courses of bricks and white ashlar, is also unusual for Thessaloniki and its region; it is copied from Constantinopolitan architecture.^[3] Fragments of the church's original decoration survive in the form of wall paintings, fine examples of late Palaiologan art, which influenced later paintings in Serbia.^[4]

References

↑ Kourkoutidou-Nikolaidou & Tourta (1997), pp. 111–112
↑ Kourkoutidou-Nikolaidou & Tourta (1997), pp. 112–113
↑ Kourkoutidou-Nikolaidou & Tourta (1997), pp. 113–114
↑ Kourkoutidou-Nikolaidou & Tourta (1997), pp. 115–116

Sources

Kourkoutidou-Nikolaidou, E.; Tourta, A. (1997), Wandering in Byzantine Thessaloniki, Kapon Editions, ISBN 960-7254-47-3

External links

Media related to Church of Prophet Elias of the City, Thessaloniki at Wikimedia Commons

Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki

UNESCO	Arch of Galerius and Rotunda Byzantine Bath Church of the Acheiropoietos Church of Hagios Demetrios Church of St. Catherine Hagia Sophia Church of the Holy Apostles Vlatades Monastery Church of St. Nicholas Orphanos Church of Panagia Chalkeon Church of St. Panteleimon Church of the Saviour Church of Prophet Elijah Church of Hosios David (Latomos Monastery) City Walls

Other	Baptistery of St. John the Baptist Cemetery Basilica Church of St. George Heptapyrgion

Museums	Museum of Byzantine Culture Museum of Byzantine Instruments

World Heritage Sites in Greece

North	Aigai Mount Athos Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki City Walls Rotunda Church of the Acheiropoietos Church of Saint Demetrios Latomou Monastery Church of Hagia Sophia Church of Panagia Chalkeon Church of Saint Panteleimon Church of the Holy Apostles Church of Saint Nicholas Orphanos Church of Saint Catherine Church of the Saviour Vlatades Monastery Church of Prophet Elijah Byzantine Bath

Central	Delphi Epidaurus Hosios Loukas Meteora Mycenae and Tiryns Mystras Old Town of Corfu Olympia Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae

Attica	Acropolis of Athens Daphni Monastery

Aegean Islands	Delos Medieval city of Rhodes Monastery of Saint John the Theologian and the Cave of the Apocalypse Nea Moni of Chios Pythagoreion and Heraion of Samos

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