[DISCOVERY] Remains of very old chapel; Pan. Absinthiotissa monastery

DutchCrusader



Joined: 19/05/2008
Posts: 11281

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 09:26

On Wednesday, November 10, 2010, I discovered the much ruined remains of possibly a (very old) Greek Orthodox building. The shape of the groundplan may suggest a chapel or small church, located North East of the renovated Panaya Absinthiotissa monastery, circa one mile north of Taşkent (former Greek name: Vouno). The chapel or small church has a very interesting feature: inside there are four nicely shaped, rectangular shaped and partly open crypts or cellars - the purpose is not yet clear to me. Unless someone will contradict me I claim this to be the first notification about its existence on the Internet. Important? No, not really. But it is to me.

Panchocat


Joined: 29/11/2009
Posts: 1333

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 09:48

Nice post DC and good for you to share your happiness with us.

BoTanica


Joined: 22/12/2009
Posts: 714

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 09:52

Congratulations! where do you go from here? Is there an official office somewhere that can help you confirm the find? Would it be marked on an old map anywhere maybe? Please let us know. I remember 8 years ago on the beach at Lambousa finding the the remains of the top of an old column and then daydreaming about who carved it etc etc!!

DutchCrusader



Joined: 19/05/2008
Posts: 11281

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 10:08

RE msg 3, BoTanica: It only happened yesterday, so I have not yet had the time to do much about it. But I'll keep interested people on C44 informed.

Here's one of the (many) pictures I've taken on the location: http://www.allcrusades.com/BB_pics/DSCN7955_72.jpg

BoTanica


Joined: 22/12/2009
Posts: 714

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 10:27

Thanks Hans!

DutchCrusader



Joined: 19/05/2008
Posts: 11281

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 10:35

I was and am fascinated by this part of a larger fresco (picture below) - when was it painted, by which long and forever forgotten artist? A monk? An artist from Ledra (Nicosia, Lefkoşa)? From Byzantium? And look at the crypt in the foreground... Were monks once buried there? When were these crypts looted by treasure-hunters? Questions, questions, questions - Cyprus never stops to amaze me and keep me busy...



Picture here: http://www.allcrusades.com/BB_pics/DSCN7963_cut_72.jpg

shrimp


Joined: 01/09/2010
Posts: 939

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 11:29

how exciting for you, and fascinating yes.....so many questions .. hope you get all your answers and more....please keep us posted

DutchCrusader



Joined: 19/05/2008
Posts: 11281

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 13:40

Here's how I found the Panaya Absinthiotissa "ruined chapel or church" in the vincinity of the Panaya Absinthiotissa monastery. The picture below is a cut from a photograph I took from Vouno (about a kilometre away) and when I had a close look on an enlargement on my computer screen (at 1000%) I wondered what I really saw - it looked like a wall... Next I decided to explore the area and the result is mentioned in message 1.

The picture will show when you click this URL: DSCN7919_cut_72.jpg

DutchCrusader



Joined: 19/05/2008
Posts: 11281

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 13:42

There we go again: incomplete URL (and still no C44 Edit button)... This one must work: http://www.allcrusades.com/BB_pics/DSCN7919_cut_72.jpg

DutchCrusader



Joined: 19/05/2008
Posts: 11281

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 13:46

There seems to be a problem with my server in Holland. Be patient, please!

hilda


Joined: 10/09/2009
Posts: 80

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 14:35

More photos Dutch please,find it all very interesting

Hilda

DutchCrusader



Joined: 19/05/2008
Posts: 11281

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 14:44

RE msg 11, hilda: I'll build some webpages including text, pics and maps about the Panaya Absinthiotissa "ruined chapel or church" in the vincinity of the Panaya Absinthiotissa monastery. I'll let you know here when they are ready.

DutchCrusader



Joined: 19/05/2008
Posts: 11281

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 17:42

Around 1900 Panayia Absinthiotissa was a ruined monastic church hidden away on the mountain between Bellapais Abbey and the Ayios (= Saint) Chrysostom monastery (now inaccessible on Turkish Army land), at about the same distance from these two monasteries. It belonged to the latter, which had entirely neglected to maintain it but enjoyed the revenues that have belonged to this small Greek foundation since an earlier period. Its history is almost unknown but it can probably be identified with the abbey mentioned by Le Quien under the name of Abscithia. It used to be rather a pretty monastery and after a recent renovation it's beautiful again.

[more]

DutchCrusader



Joined: 19/05/2008
Posts: 11281

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 17:43

[continued from msg 13]



There are still fragments of paintings (frescos) in the church of the monastery and in the apse of the north aisle used to be the broken tombstone (wrote Rupert Gunnis, an eyewitness in 1936) of a woman in fifteenth century costume. However, like so many priceless pieces of art with historical value in Cyprus: possibly not lost but gone for certain...



Little is known about the history of the monastery, except that Leontios, Abbot in 1222, was one of the delegates to Patriarch Germanos II at Nicaea, after the expulsion of the Archbishop Neophytos of Cyprus by the Latins (early Lusignan era in Cyprus).



I'll describe the church and the monastic buildings later on one of my webpages: http://is.gd/gctxf

DutchCrusader



Joined: 19/05/2008
Posts: 11281

Message Posted:
11/11/2010 18:19

I can't resist the temptation to share another picture with you - I'm pretty sure you've never seen anything like it... It''s part of a large fresco in one of the crypts in the center of the Panaya Absinthiotissa "ruined chapel or church", in the vincinity of the Panaya Absinthiotissa monastery, lighted by the sun. Maybe one thousand years old (or even more?). Unfortunately I didn't have a ladder to descend to picture all the walls in the four crypts, but it will be done soon..!



Click this link to view the picture: http://www.allcrusades.com/BB_pics/DSCN7971_72.jpg