The progress of the construction of the first phase of the Catholicos of the Esfigmenos Monastery, based, primarily, on the information of a number of anecdotal documents from its archive, which capture in detail the building timeline of the building’s creation, from project planning to full completion of, presents the architect’s book “The construction of the Catholic Monastery of Esfimenos”. Miltiadis D. Polyviou (Holy Monastery of Esfigmenou, Mount Athos, 2022).

The data that emerges through Mr. Polyvio’s careful research provide a wealth of important information “of wider importance regarding the planning and financing of the projects, the various specialties of those employed in the construction works, the number of workers in the individual workshops, the salaries them by level of professional level, their origin, the types and origin of the building materials used, their units of measurement, their prices and the technical terminology of the time, thus contributing to a more complete knowledge of the production of architectural work during the years of Ottoman rule “, as stated on the back cover of the book.

“I am interested in the period from the middle of the 18th century to the years of the Revolution – both as history and as architecture – as it is the period in which the great heyday of the new Hellenism culminates, which has its traces in all areas: in the economy, Education, Letters, everywhere. It is the so-called golden age of neo-Hellenism, which for all these reasons that dictated a free state, more freedom, led to the Revolution of ’21. In this era there are some architectures that express this spirit – as morphological, decorative elements they are exactly the expression of this era. Some of them are on Mount Athos, like the one I am examining“, says Mr. Polyviou, speaking to the Athenian/Macedonian News Agency about his decision to deal with the construction of the Catholic Church of Esphimenos Monastery, one of the most beautiful monasteries of the Holy Peninsula.

“It is about“, as he describes, “for a remarkable building that expresses an important era for modern Hellenism. What is important is that these documents, which capture how architectural work was produced at that time, have a wider interest as they do not always survive. Equally very few times are they preserved and capture in detail this whole process of sourcing the materials, how the construction crews worked, who the builders were, who gave the money, etc.».

The construction of the Catholic through archival documents

As mentioned in the book, the construction of the Catholic Church of Esfimenos Monastery was completed in two construction phases: During the first construction phase, which took place in the period 1806-1810, the main building was built, i.e. the main church with the apse and an exonarthex. The form of the temple of this first building phase is preserved by a photograph by Ernest De Caranza, taken in 1853, just a year before the second building phase, which is precisely identified by a relevant inscription reference found on the lintel of the entrance to the narthex. According to the information on the inscription, which is absolutely confirmed by the corresponding structural data, it becomes clear that during this second phase in 1854 a new exonarthex was added to the west of the building, as well as two side chapels at the eastern ends of the original exonarthex, which it was thus transformed into a closed splint.

Mr. Polyviou presents the progress of the construction of the first phase of the catholicon, through anecdotal documents that he managed to locate after persistent research efforts in the relatively disorganized document archive of the Monastery, with the kind support of the late Fr. Ignatius, then in charge of the archive her. “On Mount Athos”, as the author of the book says to APE-MBE, “precisely because its monasteries are centuries-old entities, all the elements that refer to their lives are kept. That is, there are documents in monasteries from the time of their foundation until now. So, therefore, the archives of Agios Georgios, for this kind of research, are unique”, he notes.

These are three accounts and eight loose documents. The accounts, as mentioned in the book, record in detail, in chronological order, the costs of the building project in wages of workers and materials and from the loose documents, the five complete the information of the accounts for the construction of the building and the coverage of the relevant expenses. The three accounts and the five loose documents depict in detail the progress of the construction of the original temple and the financial management of the entire project until its complete completion. “The complete supervision of its building history that is highlighted in this way will give the possibility to attempt in the future, if the relevant conditions exist, a thorough study of the existing building, so that it will be possible to form a complete image of an important architectural monument of era during which the so-called golden age of the new Hellenism culminates“, points out Mr. Polyviou. The remaining three documents (out of eight) refer to the agreement for the construction of the iconostasis and the covering of the expenses for it as well as for the canonization of the church.

As far as the identity of the work is concerned, the answer is provided by the foundational inscription of the catholicon, which is located in the arch of the partition between the narthex and the main church. On the wall painting of the church, next to the entrance of the litia, according to the inscription, Ignatius of Kassandreia is depicted, full-length, holding in one hand the episcopal staff and in the other the effigy of the church, as an indication of his founding status. Apart from the inscription, however, there are many other elements that confirm what the inscription says, to which Mr. Polyviou makes extensive reference.

The (indirect) contribution of the book to the case of the Monastery of Esfigmenou

According to Mr. Polyviou, the indirect – and extremely important – contribution of the book concerns “the occupation of the Monastery of Esfigmenos by some who define themselves as genuine Orthodox Christians and are nothing but common squatters”.

“This book, beyond any value or disvalue, poses this issue: what will happen to the Monastery of Esfimenou. Books like this pose that particular problem. Will it finally be solved or will the state continue to tolerate the squatters to exploit this case?“, he says characteristically.

“As the title of the book states, it is about the chronicle of the construction of the building, it is not the study and evaluation of it. That is, based on the situation that exists in the monastery (including the occupation), in order to do an in-depth examination of the building, I would have to go and stay a week there. But in order to do this I will have to apply, that is to say indirectly recognize that they rightfully own this building. I won’t do it, of course, because they are recognized multiple times as squatters“, underlines Mr. Polyviou.

The first pages of the book include a blessing from the Ecumenical Patriarch, Mr. Bartholomeus and a greeting from the commander of Mount Athos Athanasios Martinos, while the foreword was written by Archimandrite Mr. Bartholomeus, Professor of the Holy Monastery of Esfigmenos.

A few words about Miltiadis Polyviou

He holds a diploma in architecture from the Polytechnic School of AUTH, a graduate in Byzantine Archeology from the Faculty of Philosophy of the same university and a doctorate from the School of Architecture of E.M.P. As an architect for the Ministry of Culture, he worked on monument protection projects, mainly in the area of ​​Mount Athos. The subject of his publications is mainly post-Byzantine ecclesiastical architecture, while he also deals with topics related to Asia Minor Hellenism, the Greek Civil War and the post-war poets of Thessaloniki. He has published the books The Catholic of the Xiropotamou Monastery (Athens 1999, Prize of the Academy of Athens) and The Church Architecture in Pelion during the 18th and 19th centuries (University of Thessaly Publications, Volos 2019).

* The main photo is from the website of the Monastery of Esfigmenou