The Latin phase of the katholikon of the Phaneromeni monastery and the rebuilding in the ottoman period

Abstract

The monastery of Phaneromeni founded in 1670 by Hosios Laurentius became the religious point of reference of Salamis. The katholikon which had previously been dated in the late 17^th century by Sotiriou is now being re-evaluated under the light of recent evidence. According to the latter, the existing church is a building of the early 18^thcentury which corroborate the archival evidence of the monastery and suggest a dating between the years 1718 and 1732. Furthermore, on its masonry discernible features prove that parts of it belong to the Latin or to the Byzantine phase of the church. The morphological, typological and comparative analysis of the church with Western examples showcase the influences from the Lombard and French Romanesque architecture and make the katholikon of Phaneromeni the only surviving such case from Greece.