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The Nea (Ekklesia) of Basil I (in) Constantinople

Sketch from a notebook by Albert M. Friend. MS.BZ.019-03-01-054.
The Nea (Ekklesia) of Basil I (in) Constantinople

This sketch shows the first reconstruction that Albert Friend, Glanville Downey, and Paul Underwood attempted for a case study on the dome of the Nea Ekklesia, the lost church founded by emperor Basil I (r. 867–886) in the great imperial palace in Constantinople. Their approach, which they also applied later to the Holy Apostles, was to combine textual sources and comparative visual material. Here, Friend notes a sermon by the ninth-century patriarch Photios as a textual reference. Downey translated the text, which then served as the source for the dome reconstruction by Underwood (see here). The notes surrounding the drawing indicate the color and a series of iconographic models for the mosaic reconstruction.

 

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The Nea (Ekklesia) of Basil I (in) Constantinople
The Nea (Ekklesia) of Basil I (in) Constantinople

Sketch from a notebook by Albert M. Friend. MS.BZ.019-03-01-054.

Date of mosaics of H(oly) A(postles)
Date of mosaics of H(oly) A(postles)

Notes by Albert M. Friend. MS.BZ.019-03-02-068.

Section of the church of the Holy Apostles and iconography of central dome
Section of the church of the Holy Apostles and iconography of central dome

Notes and sketches from a notebook by Albert M. Friend, Spring 1948. MS.BZ.019-03-02-066.

Arrangement of the iconography in the northern arm and dome of the church of the Holy Apostles
Arrangement of the iconography in the northern arm and dome of the church of the Holy Apostles

Sketch from a notebook by Albert M. Friend. MS.BZ.019-03-02-063.

Christ Pantokrator
Christ Pantokrator

Photographs from Albert M. Friend’s research material. MS.BZ.019-03-01-054.

Transfiguration (Metamorphosis)
Transfiguration (Metamorphosis)

Photograph from Albert M. Friend’s research material. MS.BZ.019-03-01-049.

Transfiguration (Metamorphosis) Dome
Transfiguration (Metamorphosis) Dome

Reproduction of a preparatory sketch by Paul A. Underwood. MS.BZ.019-03-01-057.

Letter from Paul A. Underwood to Albert M. Friend, no date
Letter from Paul A. Underwood to Albert M. Friend, no date

MS.BZ.019-03-02-071

Verses of Constantine of Assicrety on Rhodes
Verses of Constantine of Assicrety on Rhodes

Translation by Glanville Downey. MS.BZ.018.

The Architecture of Justinian’s Church of the Holy Apostles, Part I (photocopy)
The Architecture of Justinian’s Church of the Holy Apostles, Part I (photocopy)

Conference paper by Paul A. Underwood. MS.BZ.019-03-01-050.

Program of the Dumbarton Oaks Symposium on the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople of April 22–24, 1948 (photocopy)
Program of the Dumbarton Oaks Symposium on the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople of April 22–24, 1948 (photocopy)

MS.BZ.019-03-01-050