The mosaics of the church of Hagios Demetrios in Thessaloniki
The Saint Demetrios Basilica in Thessaloniki is one of the oldest and most prestigious churches in the city, once the second most important Byzantine city after Constantinople. The cult of Saint Demetrios was widely popular in the Middle Ages, and the basilica, built where the martyrdom of the saint was believed to have occurred in 306, was an important sanctuary with lavish decorations and mosaics.
The creation of the mosaics of Saint Demetrios.
After the latest reconstruction of the church around 500, giving it its present form as a three-aisle basilica, a significant program of mosaic decoration was developed during the 6th and 7th centuries, until the rise of Byzantine Iconoclasm in 730.
These mosaics are not only a testimony to the development of early Byzantine art but also represent the most important collection of patron portraits produced during this period. The mosaics were commissioned by the wealthy inhabitants of Thessaloniki as a form of ex-voto, to commemorate their patron saint Demetrios and his companions, and to thank them for previous interventions on their behalf.
They also portray the elite of early Byzantine Thessaloniki and illustrate how their patronage contributed to the construction of an elite identity at the time.
The mosaics of Hagios Demetrios: An history of rediscovery and loss.
Since 1492–93, following the conquest of Thessaloniki by the Turks about fifty years earlier, the church had been converted into a mosque, and the Christian decorations, including the mosaics, were covered. In August 1907, extensive renovations began on the Kasimiye Camii—the name of the mosque. During these repairs, many mosaics came to light, notably on the wall of the north inner aisle. The quality and preservation of the artworks attracted numerous scholars, who documented the discoveries with photographs, drawings and watercolors – though only partially – before a new white layer was applied over them.
In August 1917, a catastrophic fire broke out in Thessaloniki and ravaged two third of the city. Miraculously, most of the Byzantine churches survived, but Hagios Demetrios was one nearly completely destroyed in the disaster.
However, the excavation and consolidation of the church after 1917 revealed a few additional mosaic panels that had remained concealed beneath Ottoman plaster. A niche in the outer south wall of the apse also preserves fragmentary mosaic, together with the remains of a votive inscription. A few fragments were also salvaged from the rubble and later transferred to the Byzantine Museum of Thessaloniki.
The surviving mosaic panels of the basilica of Saint Demetrios.
The panel of saint Demetrios and the founders of the church.
Across the nave, facing another mosaic of the Virgin and Saint Theodore, stands one of the best-preserved panels in the church. It depicts Saint Demetrios with two ktetors (founders) responsible for the restoration of the church. The saint wears a tablion chlamys and places his arms around their shoulders.
On the left is a bearded bishop holding a book decorated with a cross; on the right, a secular official dressed in gold.
The figures stand on an undulating light-brown ground. Behind them rises a white wall with crenellations, draped with cloth, framing the officials’ heads. This arrangement creates square-like haloes, presumably to indicate that the portraits represented living men.
At the base, a metrical inscription reads: “The founders of this glorious house you behold at both sides of the martyr Demetrios, he who diverted a barbarous flood of barbarian ships and ransomed the city.” This refers to the saint’s supposed intervention in saving Thessalonica from a Slavic raid in 615.
Panel of the Virgin and Saint Theodore.
This panel occupies the south side of the northeast sanctuary pier, directly opposite the scene of Saint Demetrios with the church’s founders.
The Virgin and Saint Theodore stand upon a rippling, light-brown ground, surmounted by rows of yellow-green tesserae that extend the wall decoration, visually consistent with the adjacent panel. The wall itself is rendered in blue, decorated by a horizontal red band adorned with alternating ovals, and intersected by vertical lines topped with fleur-de-lys motifs.
The figure of the Virgin shows signs of modification; the outline of her earlier right shoulder remains faintly visible. She holds an open scroll inscribed with the words: “Supplication. Lord God, hearken to the voice of my prayer, for I pray for the world.”
Beside her stands an orant figure, identifiable as Saint Theodore by his beard and facial type. He faces the viewer directly, wearing a tablion chlamys patterned in the same design seen on Demetrios’s garment on the east face of the southeast pier.
Above the two figures, a half-length image of Christ descends from a radiant arc, extending his hand toward the Virgin in response to her prayer. A second inscription, now only partly preserved, runs along the lower edge of the panel: “… discouraged by men, made alive by your strength, in thankfulness I dedicated [this].”
Panel of saint Demetrios and a bearded deacon.
On the east face of the southeast sanctuary pear, in an area not visible from the public areas of the church, a mosaic panel depicts saint Demetrios with his arm around the shoulder of the white-bearded deacon familiar from the tribelon mosaic.
The background details are identical to those on the adjacent north face, the panel of saint Demetrios and the founders of the church.
An inscription also runs beneath the panel, reading: “blessed martyr of Christ, friend of the city, protect both citizens and outsiders”. This invocation could reflect the deacon’s role as liaison between ecclesiastical and civic authority, and his pastoral dutie.
Panel of a beardless saint and angels.
On the west wall, in the inner north aisle, the upper left corner of a panel is visible. Framed with red and white triangles, it still shows the upper torso of a youthful, nimbed saint dressed in a chlamys with a tablion, standing against a sky filled with clouds.
Above the saint, a half-figure of an angel blowing a golden trumpet appears, while the wings of a second angel can be seen at the right edge of the fragment.
Panel of a beardless saint with two figures.
On the west wall in the inner south aisle, the preserved right portion of a panel depicts a nimbed saint, likely Saint Demetrios, in an orant posture with golden hands. He stands before a structure that may represent the silver ciborium, a focal point of his cult in the church.
To the saint’s right, an adult male nudges a youth toward him, both figures extending covered hands in reverence. This gesture is mirrored by a fragmentary figure on the left. The frame features gold lozenges set against a greenish-blue background, bordered by an inner gold rim and an outer white rim.
Panel of a saint with two children.
On the west face of the northeast sanctuary pier, a mosaic depicts a beardless saint wearing a chlamys with a tablion, decorated with trefoils set within lozenges.
The saint rests his left hand on the shoulder of a small child with covered, raised hands. Below the saint’s right hand, raised in a blessing gesture, stands a shorter child, also with covered and raised hands.
The background is a green surface, possibly representing a wall, with colored bands along the top, including a thick red stripe adorned with alternating ovals and vertical lines. A piece of drapery is visible, and at the top appears what seems to be the roofline of a structure, possibly the ciborium shown in the previous panel.
Mosaic panel of Saint Sergios.
On the west face of the southeast sanctuary pier, next to a donor portrait, appears a representation of Saint Sergios, identified by an inscription above the figure. He faces the nave and serves as the pendant to the preceding figure on the northeast pier.
The saint stands on undulating ground, with a backdrop wall and a curtain above him—elements identical to those in the pendant panel. However, the fabric of the chlamys he wears differs and resembles that worn by Saint Demetrios on the tribelon panel.
Panel of a saint and four ecclesiastics.
A badly damaged panel on the tribelon wall, facing the inner north aisle, shows a nimbed male figure, presumably Saint Demetrios, flanked by four ecclesiastics—two on each side—standing before a curtain. Demetrios has his arms around the shoulders of the two nearest figures, both dressed as bishops. The remaining two figures appear to be a priest on the right and a deacon on the left. This character reappears on the east face of the southeast sanctuary pier and in a medallion set within the inner north arcade sequence.
The faces of the central figures have been removed, but enough remains to confirm that Demetrios had a circular nimbus, while the others had square halos.
Demetrios’ chlamys is adorned with a star-filled medallion and trilobes with basal ribbons, echoing variants of the fabric design worn by Saint Sergios on the southeast sanctuary pier.
Mosaic fragment of the basilica of Saint Demetrios transferred to the Byzantine Museum.
Lost mosaics of Saint Demetrios documented before their destruction in 1917.
Panel of the Virgin between two angels with saints, donors and medallions.
This panel is documented through two watercolours by different artists (Walter S. George and Konstantin Maleas) and a photograph showing a detail of the mosaic. The scene depicted the Virgin enthroned, holding the Child on her knees and flanked by two angels. Next to the left angel stood a saint acting as intercessor for a kneeling donor, while beside the right angel another saint was shown in an orant pose. The composition was framed on the left by two medallions of saints and on the right by three medallions, with an additional donor figure represented in the lower right corner.
Panel showing the Virgin with angels or saints presenting children.
Panel with medallions between two angels with Saint Demetrios and two prelate, inscriptions and donors.
The panel above the arch features three medallions. The central medallion depicts Saint Demetrios, while those on either side portray two prelates. Below runs an inscription, and on one side, a partially visible figure of a saint holding a child can be seen.
Sources.
Les Monuments chrétiens de Salonique. Texte by Diehl, Charles (1859-1944) – National Institute for Art History, France – Public Domain.
Les Monuments chrétiens de Salonique. Album de planches by Diehl, Charles (1859-1944) – National Institute for Art History, France – Public Domain.
Leslie Brubaker, Elites and patronage in early Byzantium: The evidence from Hagios Demetrios at Thessalonike.
