Brontochion Monastery

The abbot Pachomius incorporated into the monastery the small church of the Hodegetria, or "Aphentikon", as the monastery's katholikon.^[2][3][4][5] The church was reconstructed and completed around 1310, with some scholars giving 1308-1312 as the construction dates and others 1310–1322.^[3][6] The despot Theodore I Palaiologos, who died in 1407, is buried in the church.^[7]

The Hodegetria Church is the first example of what's called the "Mystras type" design.^[7] The lower floor is a three-aisled basilica, whereas above is a traditional Byzantine cross-in-square church plan. The cross-in-square, five-domed gallery is encircled by a portico that has a belfry.^[8] There are also features more typical of Constantinople, such as the use of blind arches.

On the lower level the walls are covered by marble revetment, a luxurious feature, and there is also a surviving fresco of the Virgin Mary as Zoodochos Pege (Life-containing Source) in the lunette above the so-called royal door.^[7]

During Ottoman rule, the monastery was converted into a mosque.^[9]

• History of Roman and Byzantine domes
• Hodegetria
• List of monasteries in Greece