Church of Saint Nicholas Orphanos

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessalonika
Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List
The Church of Saint Nicholas Orphanos
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iv
Reference	456
UNESCO region	Europe
Coordinates	40°38′N 22°57′E / 40.633°N 22.950°E / 40.633; 22.950
Inscription history
Inscription	1988 (12th Session)

The Church of Saint Nicholas Orphanos (Greek: Ἅγιος Νικόλαος ὁ Ὀρφανός) is an early 14th-century Byzantine church in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki.

Location

The church is located in the northeastern corner of the old city, just inside the eastern wall, between the Irodotou and Apostolou Pavlou streets.^[1]

History and description

The church's name, "Saint Nicholas the Orphan", is first attested in the 17th and 18th centuries, and presumably refers to its otherwise unknown ktetor (founder). From its interior decoration, the building is dated to the period 1310–1320. The church originally formed part of a monastery, traces of which (remnants of a gate) survive to the east.^[1]^[2]

Interior view of the church with the well preserved frescoes

The church was originally built as a simple, single-aisled edifice with a wooden gabled roof. Later, aisles were added on three sides. They form an ambulatory, under whose floor several graves have been found. The masonry features irregular layers of brick and stone, with a few ceramics on the eastern side and brick decoration on the eastern and western sides. In the interior, the central aisle is connected to the others with double openings decorated with reused late antique capitals. The church's original marble templon survives.^[1]^[2]

The church is most notable for its frescoes, contemporary with the church's construction, which cover almost the entire interior surface. The frescoes are an example of the Thessalonican school at the height of the "Palaiologan Renaissance", and their creator may be the same who decorated the Hilandar monastery in Mount Athos in 1314. The church has been linked to the Serbian king Stephen Uroš II Milutin (r. 1282–1321), who is known to have sponsored churches in the city, on account of the depiction in the main aisle of St George Gorgos, the Serbian ruler's patron saint, and of St. Clemens of Ohrid, a favourite motif of the Serbian churches.^[1]^[3]

The monastery continued functioning throughout the Ottoman period. The frescoes were uncovered in 1957–1960 during restoration works.^[1]

Gallery

Frescoes inside the church
Kiss of Judas

References

1 2 3 4 5 Ναός Αγίου Νικολάου Ορφανού, Hellenic Ministry of Culture (in Greek), retrieved 2010-04-21
1 2 Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991), Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, pp. 1471–1472, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6
↑ Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991), Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, p. 1472, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6

External links

Media related to Church of Saint Nicolas the Orphan, 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

Coordinates: 40°38′16.07″N 22°57′22.77″E / 40.6377972°N 22.9563250°E / 40.6377972; 22.9563250

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