Domed, cross-in-square church of the composite four-column type, with a narthex and porches. The wall masonry is pseudo-isodomic in the lower section and "cloisonné" in the upper part. The facades are decorated with a variety of brick ornaments. The…
The Platamon Castle, Macedonia, is a Byzantine castle that was extensively improved by the Latin Roland Piscia, who received the site from Boniface of Montferrat after 1204.
The imposing castle is located near the mouth of the Peneios River,…
The “Paris Gregory” was made for Emperor Basil I between 879 and 883, commissioned by the Patriarch Photios I in Constantinople. It contains the Homilies of Gregory of Nazianzus. This illustration shows, at top “the dream of Constantine”, “the battle…
Saint Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine is famous for her supposed discovery of many of the relics of the passion. Herself sainted after death, this relic of her skull is held at Trier Cathedral. The portrait bust shows her holding some of…
Interior of the Limburg Staurotheke. Staurotheke comes from the Greek meaning “container of the cross.” This reliquary was made in Constantinople in the 10th century. It currently resides in Limburg in Germany. The large cross at the center of the…
The Roman Catholic Church holds that this section of the cross (vertical bar measuring 63.5 cm long; cross bar measuring 39.3 cm, with a thickness of 38 mm) is the largest relic of the True Cross. As with all other accepted relics of the True Cross,…
Given by Latin Emperor Baldwin II to King Louis IX of France, among others including the Image of Edessa, arrived in Paris in August 1239 for the sum of 135,000 livres. The Saint-Chapelle was built to house these (pawned) relics from Constantinople,…
Made in Paris circa 1390 for John, Duke of Berry, the reliquary is currently held in the collection of the British Museum. Made of gold, rock crystal, enamel, pearls, sapphires, and rubies, and decorated with intricately carved figures, is represents…
The Image of Edessa or the Mandylion (see image top right), is a relic of a cloth onto which the face of Christ had been imprinted. Not to be confused with other, similar, relics (such as the Veronica veil or the Shroud of Turin), the story of the…