Church of Saint Mary Perivleptos

This church was built and painted in 1295. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary; "Perivleptos" (from the Greek Περίβλεπτος) is an attribute given to her meaning "the Omniscient and Clairvoyant." The benefactor in its construction was the son-in-law of Byzantine Emperor Andronicus II. The church was painted by Michael and Eutychius, two young painters. Their work shows that styles later adopted in the Renaissance were already current in Byzantine art long before Gioto. The frescoes they painted have all the elements of Renaissance art except perspective. Important frescoes include, on the eastern wall, the detailed portraits of Saint Clement and Constantine Kavasila (former Archbishop of Ohrid) and the Lamentation of Christ painted with much emotions. On the western wall, in the Prayer on the Olive Mountain as the apostles are sleeping, take a look at their dress and how well the artists worked with color and showed the roundness of the bodies. On the northern wall, in the Death of the Virgin Mary, in order to present the holiness of the moment, there is a group of angels coming from the gates of the sky to take her soul, above her stands Jesus holding her soul. The figures are not presented the traditional Byzantine way, skinny, and emotionless. The painters were also the first Byzantine artists to sign their work (on 20 hidden locations, look on the front columns at the sword and the cloth of two holy warriors).