i • 



Photograph by H. G. Dwight 

 THE CHURCH 0? ST. GEORGE, KNOWN IN THE TURKISH PERIOD AS THE MOSQUE OP 



HORTAJI SULEIMAN EFFENDI 



"Its design, more characteristic of Italy than of the Levant, reminds us that Saloniki 

 was more directly under Italian influence than under that of Constantinople, and that until 

 the eighth century the city was, in religious matters, subject to Rome" (see text, page 215). 



Although pillaged at the time of the 

 Turkish conquest, it fortunately fell into 

 the hands of the Mevlevi, more popularly 

 known as the Whirling Dervishes, who 

 are among the most tolerant of Moham- 

 medans. 



AEE MEN BROTHERS 



The dervish who showed me about, on 

 the occasion of my first visit, pointed out 

 that the figures objectionable from a 

 Turkish point of view had merely been 

 covered with a curtain, adding that all 

 men were brothers, and that mosques and 

 churches alike were the houses of God. 



St. Demetrius, at any rate, still con- 

 tains much interesting and beautiful deco- 

 rative detail. There are superb verd- 

 antique columns on either side of the 

 nave, their early Byzantine capitals are 

 of great variety, and the spandrels of the 



arches are ornamented with charming de- 

 signs of inlaid marble. There is also a 

 good deal of mosaic in the aisles and the 

 bema, the oldest being that of the north 

 wall. It dates from the seventh century, 

 though some of it has been retouched. 



In spite of its early period the basilica 

 has an oddly baroque air. This is chiefly 

 due to an imitation of a cornice on a flat 

 surface of variegated marble. And in 

 one place the veined marble of the walls, 

 sawn in thin sections from the same 

 block, is so arranged as to simulate 

 drapery. 



In a dark chamber opening out of the 

 narthex is shown what purports to be the 

 tomb of St. Demetrius himself. But the 

 real shrine was despoiled at the time of 

 the Turkish conquest, and existed in an- 

 other part of the cathedral. 



