Aghia Roumeli.
Aradena.
CRETE
245
361. Aradena, Archangel Michael (Astrategos) wall painting (Αράδενα,
Μιχαήλ Αρχάγγελος (Αστράτηγος) τοιχογραφία)
361. Aradena, Archangel Michael (Astrategos) (Αράδενα, Μιχαήλ
Αρχάγγελος (Αστράτηγος))
the second is occupied by the single-nave church of Aghioi
Kerykos and Julitta, featuring decoration of the 14th c. Outside
the Moni settlement is the church of Saint Nicholas: the E is
barrel-vaulted and single-nave, while the W is cross-vaulted.
The E section was painted by Theodoros Daniel Veneris in
the late 13th c. and the W by Ioannis Pagomenos in 1315.
At Koustogerako is the barrel-vaulted, single-nave church of
Saint George decorated in 1488 by the painter Georgios Pro-
vatopoulos. At Livadas, the church of Aghios Demetrios pre-
serves wall-paintings of 1311-2 by the artist responsible for the
wall-paintings in the church of the Soter Temenion. At Aghia
Irene is found a church dedicated to her with wall-paintings
of 1368, the church of the Soter decorated in 1357-8 and the
ruined church of Saint George with wall-paintings dating from
1460-1. At Prines are the churches of Saint George with deco-
ration dating from 1367, Panagia, Aghioi Apostoloi (14th c.)
and Archangel Michael, work of the painter Nikolaos Mastra-
chas (1410).
359.
Aghia Roumeli
.
At the exit from the Samaria Gorge, Aghia Roumeli occupies
the site of the ancient city of Tarra. On the crepis of the ancient
temple (possibly of Apollo Tarraios) has been built a three-
aisled, Early Christian basilica with mosaic floors. In the 15th
c., on the site of the bema, a small, barrel-vaulted church was
constructed and frescoed. In the Samaria settlement, within
the Samaria Gorge, is the barrel-vaulted, single-nave church
of Saint Mary of Egypt with wall-paintings of the 14th c. E of
Aghia Roumeli stands the Mid-Byzantine church of Saint Paul,
a free cross plan church with a dome. It was the catholicon of
a small monastery and was built in the third decade of the 11th
c. by Hosios Ioannis Xenos. The church contains two layers of
wall-paintings, the first dating from the 11th c. and the second
from the mid-13th c.
360.
Aghios Ioannis.
W of Aradena, outside the village, is today’s twin-naved church
of Saint John Theologos. The original barrel-vaulted N nave
features wall-paintings of the early 14th c., possibly by Ioannis
Pagomenos and his fellow-artists. At a short distance stands
the single-nave church of Panagia with decoration from the
second half of the 15th c.
361.
Aradena
.
Aradena is a village on Lefka Ori (White Mountains) located at
the site of the ancient city of Aradenos. In the Early Christian
period it was the see of “Phoenix, that is Aradena”; it was a
double episcopal seat as its inhabitants moved to the coastal
settlement of Phoenix (present-day Loutro) in winter. Beneath
the domed cross-in-square church of Archangel Michael “As-
tratigos” – built in the first half of the 14th c. with contemporary
wall-paintings – remnants of an Early Christian three-aisled
basilica with mosaic floor can be distinguished. An additional
three-aisled basilica has been detected beneath the single-
nave church of Saint Nicholas.
