Once bustling with life, the Armenian settlement of Old Khot in the mountains.
Like many other historical villages and towns, which endured centuries of Muslim devastation, it was abandoned in the XX century, as the threat of raids and consequently, the need for a safe location have faded into the obscurity.
Like many other historical villages and towns, which endured centuries of Muslim devastation, it was abandoned in the XX century, as the threat of raids and consequently, the need for a safe location have faded into the obscurity.
β€22π2
The Church of Gregory the Illuminator, built by merchant Tigran Honents in the ancient Armenian capital of Ani after it was recaptured from the Muslims. The temple belonged to the Chalcedonian Armenians and is decorated with beautiful frescoes in the Byzantine manner. Unfortunately, like most of the buildings in Ani, located in modern-day Turkey, the church is not in the best condition, but considering that it was ransacked as early as the Mongol conquest and that many of the city's churches, now in ruins, were still standing in the XX century, it is actually very fortunate.
π₯10β€7π’1
Externally, the Church of Saint John the Theologian in Stebachevo looks like an unremarkable temple of the XVII century, and the fact that it was actually built towards the end of the XVIII century does not play into its hands at all.
But a hapless traveler who happens to be in the village will be amazed if he enters the temple - a century late architecturally, the church has made up for the lost time with its decoration, which miraculously survived through the Soviet years. The interior of the church is made in the Baroque style, and the lack of stucco, generally typical for Russian churches, is compensated here by the richest iconostasis - not at all rural.
But a hapless traveler who happens to be in the village will be amazed if he enters the temple - a century late architecturally, the church has made up for the lost time with its decoration, which miraculously survived through the Soviet years. The interior of the church is made in the Baroque style, and the lack of stucco, generally typical for Russian churches, is compensated here by the richest iconostasis - not at all rural.
β€9
An unusual testimony to the wide spread of the Franco-Byzantine style already in Byzantine and simply Orthodox lands in the last years of the Empire's life - the deesis from Antipatreia (modern Berat), made a hundred years after the Ottoman conquest of the city, but still using a Gothic arch.
β€15π1
Modern architecture in North Macedonia leaves much to be desired in most cases - and this also applies to the traditionally much more distinguished in comparison with its surroundings temple architecture.
But even here there are pleasant exceptions, and particularly in the church architecture - reminding that not all is lost, like this modern church of the Saint Gabriel the Athonite Monastery, which perfectly recreates the traditions of the Byzantine monuments preserved in the country.
But even here there are pleasant exceptions, and particularly in the church architecture - reminding that not all is lost, like this modern church of the Saint Gabriel the Athonite Monastery, which perfectly recreates the traditions of the Byzantine monuments preserved in the country.
β€15π₯3π2
The surviving glazed tiles of the masterpiece of Neo-Russian Art Nouveau in Fedino - the Church of Saint Seraphim of Sarov.
β€16π₯6π1