The church of Panagia Pantanassa is one of the most important monuments of the first half of the 15th century.
Founder of the Catholic and the monastery was protostrator Fragopoulos John, who left monograms and inscription with the name and titles of the windows on the west, the south chapel and the circular base of the dome of the narthex. The inauguration of the monastery took place in September 1428.
Panagia Pantanassa belongs to the mixed type of Mystras, its type is basilica on the ground floor and temple complex cruciform with a dome on the floor.
Intense is the Frankish influences in the apse, with gothic arches surround lobed windows in the tall steeple where trilobal openings framed by a large “broken” Gothic arch, and the tall domed ceiling, accompanied by four small towers.
The original painted decoration has survived quite well on the first floor, while the ground floor bears frescoes of 17th to 18th century.
The iconographic program of 1430 closely follows the Odigitrias program. O getter perhaps it was he who suggested as standard Afentiko.
The workshop drew Pantanassa, distinguished by its stylistic eclecticism.
Epistrefei standards of Odigitrias and designs bright forms, with cylindrical bodies and imposing figures. It shows a marked preference for rocky landscapes for the background of the performances.
Many compositions are figured, with lively and several graphic details, features reminiscent of the painting Peribleptos. The colors are open and cheerful, as in Perivlepto But here the painting becomes more intense decorative.
The frescoes in Panagia Pantanassa generally characterized by intense sophistication. The painters resort to ways and means of the past and emphasize secondary elements, thus disrupting the unity of the compositions and properties.
These characteristics are typical of the final phase of the aristocratic Palaiologan paintings and frescoes of Pantanassa, with their high quality, is the only monument of that period survives par.
