The creative literary output and renowned monuments of the “Paleologan regeneration”, are the product of political turbulence in times when the class of the “powerful” (the dynatoi),staked their claim to a share of imperial authority.In times of political instability and civil wars, before surrendering to the Turks in 1430, the city of Thessaloniki would change hands more than once.The people revolted against the dynatoi,the zealots won in this confrontation, and the city for about one decade (in the years 1342-1350) would be self-administrated.In the same years an open debate would be carried on between Gregory Palamas on the side of the Hesychasts and the western scholar monk Barlaam, in the quieting controversy.In 1303 the chapel of St.Euthymios in the church of Saint Demetrius was decorated, and the murals, comparable to those painted by Manouel Panselinos on Mount Athos are considered a definitive example of the Macedonian school.Shortly after, an exceptional example of architecture was built, what today is known as the church of the Apostles.Once the Zealot movement had been put down,the Monastery of Vlatades came to be built, the small church of the Metamorphosis of the Saviour was also built near Καmara ( the Arch of Galerius ) in Thessaloniki.
Byzantine Thessaloniki and its monuments. (Thessaloniki during the rule of the Paleologos dynasty)
30 Jul 2012
by Archaeology Newsroom
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