1st Graduate Forum for Mediterranean Archaeology: the Church of Agioi Apostoloi at Kavousi, Crete

Presented at a session of the 1st Graduate Forum for Mediterranean Archaeology chaired by Procopios Petrou, this paper by Polymnia Simadinou of the University of Crete examines the unpublished Venetian-period Church of Agioi Apostoloi in the village of Kavousi, near Ierapetra in eastern Crete.

Simadinou describes the single-nave church, covered by a pointed barrel vault, and walks through its damaged wall paintings, which preserve at least two superimposed layers. On the north wall she identifies biblical and Christological scenes including the Sacrifice of Abraham, the Washing of the Feet, the Betrayal of Judas, the Unburnt Bush, the Raising of Lazarus, and the Entry into Jerusalem, alongside a frieze of male saints in square frames, full-length saints under painted marble arches, a martyrdom scene, and a donor portrait inscribed "the Presbytera". In the sanctuary she traces the Pantokrator, the Communion of the Apostles, officiating bishops, the Presentation in the Temple, the Ascension, the Three Youths in the Furnace, the Doubting of Thomas, the Hospitality of Abraham, and the Annunciation. The south wall holds the Last Judgement, the Baptism, the Crucifixion, and a Nativity showing the Virgin nursing Christ as Galaktotrophousa.

She then examines the Paradise scene, where Saint Peter hurries to open a stone gate with an oculus window resembling thirteenth- to seventeenth-century Venetian architecture in Crete, set before a fortified city with four water spouts named after the rivers of Paradise. Simadinou compares the composition with Panagia Kera and other Cretan churches, links the framed saints on the north wall to portable icons, and suggests from the prominence of the Virgin and female saints that the church may first have been dedicated to the Mother of God. Inscribed graffiti dates of 1457 and 1459 give a terminus ante quem for the second layer.