triple windows, divided by
shafts and descending to a marble parapet near the floor (Plate IV.).
The dome, which is large in proportion to the church, is a polygon of
sixteen sides. It rests directly on pendentives, but has a comparatively
high external drum above the roof. It is pierced by sixteen windows
which follow the curve of the dome. The flat, straight external cornice
above them is Turkish, and there is good reason to suspect that the
dome, taken as a whole, is Turkish work, for it strongly resembles the
Turkish domes found in S. Theodosia, SS. Peter and Mark, and S. Andrew
in Krisei. The vaults, moreover, below the dome are very much distorted;
and the pointed eastern arch like the eastern wall appears to be
Turkish. When portions of the building so closely connected with the
dome have undergone Turkish repairs, it is not strange that the dome
itself should also have received similar treatment.

In the western faces of the piers that carry the eastern arch large
marble frames of considerable beauty are inserted. The sills are carved
and rest on two short columns; two slender pilasters of verd antique
form the sides; and above them is a flat cornice enriched with
overhanging leaves of acanthus and a small bust in the centre. Within
the frames is a large marble slab. Dr. Freshfield thinks these frames
formed part of the eikonostasis, but on that view the bema would have
been unusually large. The more probable position of the eikonostasis was
across the arch nearer the apse. In that case the frames just described
formed part of the general decoration of the building, although, at the
same time, they may have enclosed isolated eikons. Eikons in a similar
position are found in S. Saviour in the Chora (Plate LXXXVI.).

The marble casing of the church is remarkably fine. Worthy of special
notice is the careful manner in which the colours and veinings of the
marble slabs are made to correspond and match. The zigzag inlaid pattern
around the arches also deserves particular attention. High up in the
western wall, and reached by the wooden stairs leading to a Turkish
wooden gallery on that side of the church, are two marble slabs with a
door carved in bas-relief upon them. They may be symbols of Christ as
the door of His fold (Plate IV.).

[Illustration: PLATE XLVIII.
(1) S. MARY DIACONISSA. EAST END, NORTH SIDE (LOWER PART).
(2) S. MARY DIACONISSA. EAST END, NORTH SIDE (UPPER PART).
_To face page 186._]

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