The Great Basilica

 church, basilica, ruins

As elsewhere in the Mediterranean, from about the fifth century AD public patronage was redirected primarily towards the Church. The principal late-antique church at Butrint was the Great Basilica next to the Tower Gate. This was effectively Butrint’s cathedral. Indeed, it is likely that a bishop was always present here between the 7th and 10th centuries.

The edifice comprised a three ailed basilica with a tripartite transept. In front of the façade, in the narrow space close to the Hellenistic city wall, was a small atrium. The great piers separating the aisles visible today are part of a later reconstruction, as is the paving of stone slabs; the original pavement appear to have been a figurative mosaic similar in style to that of the Baptistery.

A section of the mosaic pavement can still be seen in the central aisle near the altar. It depicts lively polychrome bands of trailing ivy and scrolling guilloche motifs – both are characteristic of Nicopolis mosaicists, and the Great Basilica, like the Baptistery, can be dated to the second quarter of the 6th century AD.

The sanctuary, the area around the altar, was slightly raised above the nave floor and contained within a large apse. On the interior the apse was shaped as a smooth semi-circle but on the exterior it formed a pentagon decorated with the incised circles and interlocking triangles characteristic of the period. The outline of a huge five-lobed window extending the entire width of the apse can still be seen.

Until the 16th century when the bishop moved to Glyky (near Arta, now in northern Greece), the bishop would have been a focal point for the Christian community at Butrint and the Great Basilica was the physical manifestation of his authority. Hence, as the urban layout of Butrint changed and was remodeled during the Middle Ages, so too modifications were made to the basilica.

Part of the façade was rebuilt, the colonnades were replaced by square masonry piers and the mosaic pavement covered by large rectangular limestone slabs. At a subsequent date the great window of the apse was replaced by a smaller trilobal window topped by a single central opening – giving it the aspect seen today.

Given the present somewhat austere appearance of the Great Basilica, it is important to remember that the interior would have been richly decorated. Comparison with other churches on Corfu and in Epirus indicates that it would have been adorned with figurative murals, hanging lamps and most probably also an iconostasis screen separating the altar from the congregation, splendidly carved with icons, painted and covered in gold leaf. This iconographic richness would have been addressed directly to the congregation and to visitors to Butrint in a splendid affirmation of the authority of the bishop and the status of the city in which he was located.