This watercolour depicts an aspect of the roof of the central church of the monastery of Panagia Acheiropiitos, c. 12 century. The monastery is located in Lambousa, which explains the rather misleading inscription ‘Lambousa’ on the painting. The standard Byzantine cross-shaped structure with the dome in the middle descends to a lower level of the roof in the foreground, where a second dome appears. The existence of a central church in the middle of a compound structure consisting of surrounding walls and other buildings is characteristic of most of the originally established Greek Orthodox monasteries. This church is usually known as the katholikon and it is the place where communal worship takes place in Orthodox coenobitic establishments. The church is dedicated to the Holy Kerchief of Christ (St Veronica or the Face of the Lord).
PNT-00288 > Elizabeth S.W. Hamshire, Lambousa, Watercolour, 23x34cm, 1952
