The Hospitality of Abraham

The chapel of the Virgin, was originally built during the second constructive period of the Μonastery, in the 12th century. The frescoes that adorned the chapel until 1957, had been painted in 1745 according to an inscription above the door that communicates with the Katholikon. During a radical conservation programme after an earthquake in 1957, the 18th century frescoes were removed and beneath them were revealed the 12th ones, now visible on the walls and the ceiling of the chapel. The Hospitality of Abraham The scene were Abraham receives the angels, is inscribed perfectly within the arch of the east wall. The background is represented by a strip of green at the bottom and a broader blue band at the top. The space in which the meal takes place is not defined. The angel in the middle is portrayed frontally, and is set precisely on the central axis of the composition; this runs from the point of the arch, through the angel’s jaw, nose and hand, and ends at the central leg of the table. The deliberate symmetry can be seen in the triangles formed by the angels’ heads, the three hands raised in blessing and the three pairs of legs. Throughout the scene, as well as in all the scenes of the chapel, there is a tendency to symmetry and rhythm, and a preference for frontal figures. The shapes of the volumes are rather geometric and the drapery not very agitated. Nevertheless, occasionally the clothes cling to the body, emphasising the shape of some particular limp; in this case the knees of the two outer angels. The above elements, along with the iconographic, morphological and stylistic affinity with some of the compositions in the temples of Agioi Anargyroi and Agios Nikolaos at Kastoria, suggest a dating at the end of the 12th century.