The Virgin Nativity Cathedral
Medallions

The Southern Wall, the Third to the West of the Doors

Dionisy's frescoes. The Southern Wall, the Third to the West of the Doors

In the medallion (75 cm in diameter) there is a flower-leaf ornament against a light grey background. The geometrical pattern of the ornament is built of circular arcs of the medallion diameter with the foci on its circumference dividing it into four equal parts. The intersecting arcs form a “flower” with four broad “petals” that are halved into two parts. In the inner parts there are small yellow (ochre) “pyramids” with brown shading of semicircular bases. The outer halves of the bottom “petals” are divided into three parts with the outlines of the background in a form of a wavy line and scrolls with “peas” at the ends. In all the elements between the background there are traces of cinnabar. Between the “petals” there is a blue (traces of azurite) “pyramid” with a wavy side facing the circumference outlined by the preserved edges of the background. All the colour elements of the ornament including the wide border (3 cm) between the two thin ones have a white outline (white chalk ground). In the centre of the medallion and on its circumference there are traces of the leg of a compass. Condition: thin cracks and damaged white chalk ground all over the medallion; complete loss of pigments in the upper half of the medallion and in the elements in the outer parts of the “petals” and in between as well as the cloth folds crossing the medallion. Conservation: 1995 (?)