Mendicant Art and Architecture around the Black Sea. Crimea and Pera. General Overview .......... 153
Synopsis
MENDICANT ART AND ARCHITECTURE AROUND THE BLACK SEA. CRIMEA AND PERA. GENERAL OVERVIEW
Since 1263 Dominican and Franciscan monasteries have been established around the Black Sea. Caffa was, moreover, one of the major centres of the Armenian Congregation of Brothers Uniate.
We learn about the Mendicant churches in the area from a few references in medieval sources, accounts dating back to the 16th-18th centuries and preserved monuments themselves.
Most of the remnants of the Crimean outposts (Caffa, Soldaia and Cembalo) are disputible, but they all share orientalizing decoration in the so-called Seljuk style familiar to other local buildings. The only preserved Mendicant structure in the area is the Dominican church of St Dominic in Pera, the construction of which dates back to the 1st half of the 14th century. Its architecture, architectural bas-reliefs and tombstones clearly indicate the heterogeneity of forms. The same is valid for the monumental painted decoration of this church, recently discovered, which contain scenes of Byzantine, Latin and mixed iconography.
The Mendicant churches of this area played a significant role in the vivid intercultural exchange (mostly “Latin-Armenian” in the Crimea and “Latin-Greek” in Pera).
