CHURCH OF THE MOTHER OF GOD-PERIVLEPTOS

This admirable ^13th-century Orthodox church (Црква Пресвета Богородица Перивлептос/Crkva Presveta Bogorodica Perivleptos) is Ohrid's masterpiece. Its epithet Perivleptos means "seen from everywhere" in Greek. As it happens, it sits atop one of the city's three hills, next to the Archbishop's Palace and the Gallery of Icons. Its priceless original Byzantine frescoes mark a turning point in the history of Christian art.

Many names. Since the ^15th century, the church has often been referred to as the "Great Church" or the "Church of St. Clement". During the Ottoman period, it was a cathedral and housed the relics of St. Clement of Ohrid. This sometimes leads to confusion, but in the town, English-language signs read "Church Mother of God Peribleptos". This epithet of Perivleptos (or Peribleptos) comes from the miraculous icon of the Mother of God Perivleptos, held since the ^11th century by the monastery of the same name in Constantinople. The name was later adopted by prestigious sites housing a copy of the icon, such as Mystra in the Peloponnese. A fragment of the ^13th-century icon of the Mother of God Perivleptos from Ohrid is kept in the Icon Gallery (no. 81 in the collection), but is rarely exhibited.

History. The church was completed in 1295, following the reconquest of Ohrid by the Byzantines in 1290, and was commissioned by the Greek general Progonos Sgouros, governor of the principality of Arbëria (now Albania), who was married into the family of the Byzantine emperor Andronic II Palaeologus. The names of both men appear in the inscription above the west door inside the narthex, along with the year 6803 of the Byzantine calendar (the year 1295). The interior was then decorated by the two famous painters Michalis Astrapas and Eutychios. In 1365, when Ohrid belonged to the Serbian Empire, two parecclesions (side chapels) were added to the north and south. They were commissioned by Gregory, Serbian bishop of Devoll, an Albanian region bordering Ohrid. New frescoes were added later in the ^14th and ^16th centuries. In the early ^15th century, shortly after the arrival of the Ottomans (1395), Saint Sophia Cathedral was transformed into a mosque. The Church of the Mother of God-Perivleptos thus became the new seat of the archbishopric. It also inherited the relics of St. Clement of Ohrid from the church of St. Panteleimon, also converted into a mosque. The Church of the Mother of God-Perivleptos retained the title of cathedral until the abolition of the Ohrid archbishopric in 1767. The relics of St. Clement were transferred to the new church on Plaošnik Hill in 2002. In 1516, the cathedral church became an "archdiocesan museum", where the archbishopric transferred the region's most important manuscripts and icons. Although not an exhibition space, the city boasts the "oldest museum in the world". This tradition continues with the Ohrid National Museum, which manages the prestigious Gallery of Icons and boasts one of the world's oldest collections of Slavonic manuscripts. From the ^19th century onwards, when Orthodox Christians once again became the majority in Ohrid, the exterior of the building was modified, notably with the addition of an exonarthex. In 1862, the monastery's outbuildings were destroyed by fire. In 1924, a bell tower was erected on the north-west side of the church. Finally, from the 1950s onwards, major restoration campaigns were launched. The most recent phase was completed in 2017 with the renovation of part of the frescoes.

Architecture. Recognizable by its drum-mounted central dome and elegant stack of roof cornices, the current building takes the form of a rectangle 15 metres wide by 20 metres long. The original church (8 x 17 m) is almost invisible from the outside. It is concealed by two later structures: two long ^14th-century side chapels, to the north and south; and an exonarthex with four columns on the façade, added in the ^19th century, to the west. Inside, however, the 1295 building is well preserved. It opens with a small narthex to the west. This is followed by the naos, dominated by the dome. The dome is supported by four pillars delimiting the choir and forming an inscribed cross plan. Finally, to the east, the sanctuary (reserved for the clergy) includes the altar, which ends in an apse, with two small areas on either side for the preparation of the liturgy ("mass" for the Orthodox). At first glance, the exterior materials resemble those of a traditional southern Balkan house: walls made of uncut stone, themselves bound with a lot of mortar and set between beech beams. These are fairly recent parts, of no real value. But if you look up at the dome or go to the apse, you'll find much more elaborate Byzantine techniques: "cloisonné" walls with cut stones set between flat bricks, and complex brick assemblies used to create a variety of patterns (meanders, checkerboard, etc.).

Michalis Astrapas and Eutychios. The most precious and beautiful frescoes are to be found in the original church, particularly in the naos. These consist of four cycles illustrating the liturgy (life of the Mother of God, life of Christ, Passion of Christ, great Orthodox feasts) and a vast series of portraits of saints (martyrs, Church fathers, prophets, local saints, etc.). They were painted in 1294-1295 by Michalis Astrapas and Eutychios. These two Greek brothers from Thessalonica were among the most important Balkan artists of the Middle Ages. Both painters discreetly signed their work. The inscription "By the hand of Michalis" appears on the sword of Saint Mercury and on the cloak of Saint Demetrios. The name Eutychios can be seen on the cloak of Saint Procopius. Michalis Astrapas ("Michael the Lightning") and Eutychios (sometimes called Eutychès in French) were trained by the monk-painters of Mount Athos. This was their first major work. Later, the two brothers entered the service of the Serbian king Milutin. For him, they created the decor for three other churches in Kosovo and Serbia, now classified as Unesco World Heritage sites. In the Republic of Macedonia, we owe them the remarkable frescoes of the Church of St. George in Staro Nagoričane (1318), near Kumanovo, and those of the Church of St. Nicetas (1324), near Skopje. With the decoration of the Mother of God-Perivleptos, the two painters broke with the maniera graeca (classical Byzantine style), which was very rigid, by doing much more than describing biblical episodes. They convey emotions through almost unprecedented scenes of tenderness. And with graphic innovations such as the use of perspective, realistic expressions and floating figures, they heralded the revival of European painting. Ten years later, most of their discoveries were to be found in the frescoes of the Scrovegni chapel in Padua, Italy, the first masterpiece by Giotto, the precursor of the Italian Renaissance.

Fresco of the Dormition of the Mother of God. Located above the entrance to the naos, this is one of the most striking frescoes in this church, itself dedicated to the Mother of God. It has been the central theme of Eastern pictorial art since the ^8th century: Mary's "sleep"(kimisis in Greek, dormitio in Latin) or, more prosaically, her death. This episode is almost absent from Catholic art, which celebrates the "Assumption", the ascent of the Virgin Mary's soul to heaven, on the same day, August 15, without mentioning her physical death. Here, the fresco is the climax of the Mother of God cycle.The painters have taken advantage of the architecture to make the composition more dynamic by linking it to three chronologically related episodes: on either side of the dormition, under the two side arches, the angel announcing Mary's imminent death (left) and the funeral procession leaving for the Mount of Olives (right ) are depicted; and above the dormition, at window level, the scene of Mary's Assumption is painted. The dormition scene itself is beneath the window. And it's packed with detail. Christ appears above the remains of his mother, nimbed in a mandorla. In his arms, he holds a swaddled, winged infant, symbolizing Mary's soul. Surrounding him and the shroud are six archangels, the twelve apostles without halos, and three bishops in prelatic garb. The latter, whom some texts give as witnesses to Mary's death, are the bishops of Athens, Dionysius the Areopagite and Hierotheus, and the bishop of Ephesus, Timothy. Beneath the shroud, in the foreground, the presence of a censer evokes Mary's last words, as described by the apostle Paul: "Light the incense and pray." Above Christ (and below the actual church window) is painted the blue dome of the gateway to Paradise, from which the cohort of angels descends to fetch the soul of the deceased. The decor is composed of two houses representing the places where Mary lived, in Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Then, in the side sections, thirteen strange conch-shaped clouds appear, carrying fourteen figures. Each of the twelve apostles, this time haloed, has its own "vessel". At the top right, a cloud led by Archangel Michael welcomes the Mother of God, dressed in black. The latter passes on her girdle (evoking her chastity) to the apostle Thomas, who had doubted Christ's resurrection. At the very top, around the window, the theme of the Assumption is symbolized by the apostles arranged in two semi-circles. They are haloed and seated on their thrones to celebrate the imminent arrival of the soul of the Mother of God. Finally, at bottom right, the last figure in the funeral procession catches the eye. This is Jephonias, a Jewish priest. He is dressed in red and his face has been vandalized. For trying to overturn the body of the Mother of God, his forearms are severed by the sword of the Archangel Michael. In the apocryphal writings, Jephonias is the symbol of the redemption of the Jews who refused to hear Christ's message, and was miraculously healed after his conversion.

Fresco of the Deploration of Christ. This episode in the cycle of the Passion of Christ is painted on the north wall of the naos, to the left of the dome area. Michalis Astrapas and Eutychios recount the lamentations of the Mother of God and the disciples after Christ's death on the cross. For its impact on art history, this is the church's most significant fresco. In fact, for reasons that specialists cannot explain, it bears a striking resemblance to The Deposition from the Cross, painted ten years later by Giotto in the Scrovegni chapel (1305) in Padua. These two innovative works on the same theme represent a turning point in European art. Yet only Giotto's work has achieved fame, being considered the first milestone of the pre-Renaissance movement. The strongest element in Ohrid and Padua is Mary's immense distress. Kneeling before the body of her son, she is ready to faint, held back only by the hands of the mourners surrounding her. The mourners are far more demonstrative. The second common and striking element is the unusual image of angels floating above the scene. They are desperate, and some are weeping too. Finally, there are three apostles here too, but in different postures: John kisses Christ's hand, Peter kisses his feet and Paul remains slightly apart. The only area that distinguishes the Ohrid and Padua frescoes is the foreground, where a series of objects are shown: the spear of the soldier who pierced Jesus' right side during the crucifixion, the rope used to lower the cross, a basket containing the tools used to remove the nails, and the vase of perfumed oil used to anoint the body before burial. All these objects brought back from the Holy Land were venerated as relics. For Byzantine painters, the need to depict them became necessary because, since the sacking of Constantinople by the Latins in 1204, most of these relics had disappeared.

Other frescoes. Correspondences with Giotto can be noted elsewhere in the church, such as in the beautiful scene at the "Golden Door", where Mary's parents meet for the first time after learning that they would finally have a child. In a completely new way, as in Padua, the emotion is there: Anne and Joachim embrace and hug each other tenderly. Another innovation is the scene of the "Nativity of Mary", in which, probably for the first time in Christian art, the infant Mary appears in a cradle. This realism also reflects the changing place of the newborn in medieval society. Finally, note the way in which both painters depicted Judas, the apostle who facilitated Jesus' arrest. In the dynamic scene of the "Kiss of Judas", the gesture by which Judas points out Jesus to the Jewish soldiers who have come to arrest him, the "traitor" is classically depicted as already fallen, without a halo. But in the "Communion of the Apostles" in the apse, Judas has regained his halo. Even more astonishing, he is the first of the disciples to drink from the chalice held by Christ. This time, the painters take up the vision of certain great theologians who insist not on Judas' "betrayal", but on his "imprudence", the apostle not having measured the consequences of his actions in denouncing the one he loved.