The Virgin Nativity Cathedral
Medallions

The Southern Altar Wall, the Second from the Window

Dionisy's frescoes. The Southern Altar Wall, the Second from the Window

In the medallion (75 cm in diameter) there is a flower-leaf ornament. The geometrical pattern of the ornament is built of the circumferences of the medallion diameter with the foci on the medallion circumference diving it into four equal parts. The intersecting arcs form a “flower” with four broad “petals” into one side of which narrow light green (glauconite) “leaves” with wavy edges and five dark strokes in the middle are inscribed. Between the “petals” are yellow (ochre) fan-shaped “flowers” with the centres displaced to the side of the narrow “petals” and wavy edges facing the medallion border as well as buried ovals of a scroll shape and dark strokes at the bases. The narrow medallion border is light brown while the inner border just retains traces. In the centre of the medallion and on its circumference there are traces of the leg of a compass. Light green cloth folds are painted over the ornament. Condition: Thin cracks all over the medallion including the wide strengthened crack in the bottom half; complete loss of pigments in the background and ornament elements in the broad “petals” next to the “leaves”; partial loss in the other elements and the cloth folds. Conservation: 2005.