The Church of Saint Panteleimon, a 14th-Century landmark in Thessaloniki
The Church of Saint Panteleimon stands as one of Thessaloniki’s most significant Byzantine monuments. Built in the late 13th or early 14th century, it reflects the city’s role as a major center of early and medieval Christianity. Since 1988, it has been part of the Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki, a UNESCO World Heritage ensemble that celebrates the city’s enduring spiritual and architectural legacy.
Location and historical background of the Saint Panteleimon Church.
Situated near the Rotunda of Galerius, at the intersection of Iasonidou and Arrianou streets, the church occupies a historic site in the eastern part of Thessaloniki’s old city. Its present dedication to Saint Panteleimon dates from after 1912, following the end of Ottoman rule. The church’s original dedication, however, remains uncertain and has long been disputed among scholars.
After the conquest of Thessaloniki by the Ottomans, the building was converted into a mosque known as İshakiye Camii (“Mosque of Ishak”). Some scholars propose that this conversion occurred around 1500, when the city’s kadi (judge) was Ishak Çelebi, who may have given his name to the mosque.
However, the prevailing interpretation identifies the church as the katholikon (main church) of the late Byzantine Monastery of the Virgin Peribleptos (“She who sees all”).
The Monastery of the Virgin Peribleptos was founded by Jacob, Metropolitan Bishop of Thessaloniki between 1295 and 1315. He later became a monk under the name Isaac. Consequently, the monastery was also known as the Monastery of Kyr Isaac, a name that may later have evolved into “Ishak,” giving rise to the mosque’s name when it was converted, probably in 1568-71. It is also possible that this foundation replaced an earlier establishment on the same site. Some scholars have even suggested that a monastery existed there as early as the 12th century, although no evidence confirms these theories.
Architectural and decorative evidence indicates a foundation in the late 13th or early 14th century, consistent with the period of Metropolitan Jacob. The monastery served as an intellectual and cultural center of Byzantine Thessaloniki, associated with the literary and teaching activities of prominent scholars Thomas Magistros and Matthaios Blastares. None of the monastic buildings have survived, and the katholikon remains the sole witness to what was once one of the city’s most flourishing religious institutions.
An example of Byzantine architecture from the 14th century.
The Church of Saint Panteleimon represents the tetrastyle cross-in-square type typical of late Byzantine religious architecture. This style was not new in Macedonia; the most noticeable earlier example is the Panaghia Chalkeon in Thessaloniki, erected in 1028 and clearly influenced by Constantinopolitan models, particularly the church of the Myrelaion, a palatial complex built by Romanos I Lekapenos (920-944).
In red, the destroyed ambulatory.
The church includes a narthex with a large central dome, reminding of the arrangement of the Pantokrator monastery of Constantinople. Originally, it also had an ambulatory, which was destroyed during the Ottoman era, at the beginning of the 20th century. Old photographs and plans show that it was pierced by arcades, with a dome rising over its southern wing and probably also over its northern wing. The ambulatory was connected to two chapels, which have survived.
This kind of symmetrical ambulatory with chapels is not attested in Macedonia before the Palaiologan era. The earliest known examples, dating back to the 11th century, are preserved in Russia. At that time, Russian architecture was strongly influenced by the Byzantine capital, likely following Constantinopolitan models that have since been lost.
Externally, the church’s walls feature intricate brick patterns, characteristic of Palaiologan-period Byzantine architecture, and show use of spolia in some parts of the building.
Spolia integrated in the walls of the church
Brick patterns on the vault and dome
Wall Brickwork and Decorative Patterns
Overall, the design of the Church of Saint Panteleimon embodies the refined architectural language of fourteenth-century Thessaloniki. The architecture of the Palaiologan Renaissance in the empire’s second city drew deeply on models from Constantinople, emphasizing balance, light, and spatial coherence. Multiple domes and the addition of an ambulatory ending in chapels had by then become characteristic features of this local building tradition. The architectural concept aimed to create a composition of tiered volumes, where subsidiary spaces encircle and accentuate the central cross-in-square core crowned by the dome.
Later use during the Ottoman period did not significantly alter the building, but the base of the demolished minaret and a marble fountain used for ritual washing testify to this subsequent history.
Following the severe earthquakes of 1978, restoration works have occure to stabilise and repair the seriously damaged monument.
Surviving decoration of the katholicon of the Virgin Peribleptos.
Only fragments of the original fresco decoration survive, found mainly in the prothesis (North-side sanctuary room for preparing the Eucharist) and diakonikon (South-side sanctuary room for storing vestments and liturgical items) and in the surviving chapels of the ambulatory. These paintings, dated to the late 13th or early 14th century, correspond to the church’s early construction phase. They combine the monumental Byzantine approach of anticlassical and hieratic painting with the new trends of the Palaiologan Renaissance.
One of the most notable artworks is the depiction of Saint James the Just (also known as Jacob Adelphotheos). Positioned prominently in the diakonikon alongside devout priests, it may have been arranged this way to honor the monastery’s founder, Metropolitan Jacob. Another depicts the Virgin Orans, also known as the Virgin Blachernitissa. A few saints and hierarchs complete the limited number of surviving paintings.
Later wall paintings in the narthex and nave belong to the Ottoman period, illustrating the later history of the building.
While the Church of Saint Panteleimon has not preserved extensive Byzantine decoration, it remains a vital witness to Thessaloniki’s Byzantine history and a remarkable architectural landmark of the Palaiologan Renaissance in the 14th century.
Sources.
Panayotis Votocopoulos, Church Architecture in Thessaloniki in the 14th century. Remarks on the typology., Belgrade, 1987.
Melina Paissidou, Byzantine churches of Thessaloniki, Hellenic Ministry of Culture – Ephoreia of Byzantine Antiquities, Thessaloniki, 2004.
UNESCO World Heritage Centre – Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki
