Mystras: “Lifting” in the Byzantine Palace and the Temple of Odigetria

The maintenance works of the painted decoration and the stone elements of the Palace and the Temple of Odigetria are proceeding systematically, in the context of the wider program implemented by the Ministry of Culture to highlight the Kastropolis of Mystras.

The Palace complexone of the few surviving Byzantine palace complexes, consists of a complex of C-shaped buildings, the construction of which goes back to different time periods, from the second half of the 13th century to the beginning of the 15th century.

The conservation study examines the plastering, the fresco decoration and the pressed mortars preserved on the internal and external surfaces of the Palace complex.

Maintenance operations include fastening of the detached and crumbling coating, the fixing of the color layer of the mural decoration, the removal of older interventions, the aesthetic restoration of the painted decoration.

THE Temple of Odigetria (Boss) in the Lower Town of Mystras was built in the first decade of the 14th century as the monastery’s catholicon.

Contemporary with the Church are the two tower-shaped chapels of “Chrysovoulla” and “Pachomio”.

In a later phase, in the 14th century, the north-east and south-east chapels were added to the Church of Odigetria.

The extraordinary artistic written decoration of Odegetria almost entirely dates to the second decade and the beginning of the third decade of the 14th century, with the exception of that of the chapel of “Kyprianos”, which dates back to the third quarter of the 14th century.

The maintenance and restoration operations of the written decoration of the Temple of Odigetria include fixing the loose substrate and the damaged color layer, removing older restoration mortars and removal of older color interventions, cleaning the painted surface and dealing with biological deterioration factors.