Time Immortal

In the middle of the Ancient Agora, there is a little Byzantine church which dates back to the 3rd or 4th century AD. It’s the only really intact structure on the ground level of the Agora, and it’s not a very big building at all. Mind you, back then, it probably didn’t need to be.

The inside of the building was, at some point, plastered over. The archaeologists are currently in the process of removing the plastering and restoring the artwork behind it. This is a shot of the art inside the church’s dome, an image of Christ looking down at the congregation. As the Reader can see, not all the plaster has yet been removed, and for good reason — it’s a painstaking, tedious process that requires great care so as not to destroy the artwork underneath.

There was no flash photography allowed in the church, so this shot was taken with benefit of stabilizer and high ISO. noise reduction was a key component of the editing process as a result. But other than that, there was very little I needed to do — the stabilizer worked beautifully, the image is fairly crisp and clear. It’s a little dark (and that after a bit of an exposure boost), but if conveys very accurately, I think, that atmosphere inside this ancient little church.

That, and I love how the blown highlights on the windows around the dome actually add to the visual punch of the image.