The conservation study of the frescoes of the Catholicon of the Vatopedi Monastery

Dr. Christos Karydis, Assistant Professor of Preventive and Interventional Conservation at the Ionian University, and Eleftherios Papaioannou, Conservator of Antiquities and Works of Art, TE (specialist in frescoes) Msc, talk about the conservation study of the frescoes of the Catholicon of the I.M.M. Vatopedi.
The frescoed decoration of the catholicon is much later than the time of the construction of the church. The oldest layer of frescoes was discovered in 1993 in the esorachia and on the fronts of the arches of the eastern part of the church and probably belongs to a layer of paintings from the second half of the 12th century. A second very important layer is dated to 1312, according to an inscription of 1819 that survives in the exonarthex and which reproduces the text of the now lost founding inscription of the history of the catholicon in the years of Andronikos II Palaiologos. The frescoes extend to the main church, the exonarthex, and, to an unknown extent, below the post-Byzantine frescoes of the esonarthex (1760). They coexist with newer phases of decoration of the catholicon, dating from the mid-18th to the early 19th century. The Paleologian frescoes of the exonarthex are preserved in very good condition, while the frescoes of the nave have been repainted for the most part. The repainting concerns, according to the perception of the time, a "renewal" of the painting on the faces, hair and clothes, while preserving the original iconography and design of the representations. In other cases, the original painting has been replaced with newer ones, which date back to 1789, according to an inscription on the lintel of the entrance from the esonarthex to the nave.