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Modern Description: In the south of the town between the Odeion and the Casa Romana, Anapávseos Street leads south to the Catholic cemetery and church of Agnus Dei by Armando Bernabiti (1935–37): the vertical effect of its dramatically elongated entrance gate is further enhanced by the crowding cypress trees around it. Behind this church is the remarkable, domed baptistery of Aghios Ioannis* of the late 5th–early 6th century, once attached to a large Early Christian Basilica whose remains now lie under the surrounding cemetery. (The interior is open only irregularly at c. 7 am, sometimes on Saturday evenings, and for funerals.) The building's importance lies in the fact that this is one of only two Early Christian baptisteries in Greece to have survived, complete, into the present day: its interior feels every bit as ancient as it is. The rectangular exterior with a shallow cupola surrounded by undulating forms and reversed semi-domes, is intriguing; but it gives no sense of the unified interior, where eight columns—three still with their ancient Ionic capitals— define a well-proportioned cylindrical area, with receding spaces and conches in the perimeter. The floor is now paved with marble slabs: the original baptismal pool in the centre was filled in when the building became a funerary church possibly as early as the 11th century. Vestiges of 13th and 14th century wall-paintings are perceptible in some of the conches. A door in the north side would have communicated with the main basilica church which once stood in the area now occupied by the cemetery to the north.
This early example of a baptistery building on Kos has the form of an ancient heroön or martyrion—a circular type of pagan mausoleum used for honouring heroes or fallen warriors. Here at Aghios Ioannis there is a domed roof, supported by eight columns defining seven lobes and conches in the building plus the door of exit: the building is also referred to as the ‘Epta Bemata' or ‘Seven Steps' on account of these seven lateral areas.
Wikidata ID: Q38280299
Trismegistos Geo: 2796

Info: McGilchrist's Greek Islands

(From McGilchrist’s Greek Islands, © Nigel McGilchrist 2010, excerpted with his gracious permission. Click for the books)

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