ABSTRACT
On the basis of a recent architectural analysis of the Acheiropoietos basilica in Thessalonike, it appears that this emblematic example of Early Byzantine ecclesiastical architecture was originally erected without galleries, during the last decade of the 5th or the first decade of the 6th century. The galleries, a not surviving clerestory and extended annexes were subsequently added during the first structural restoration of the building, which was redesigned and in large extent rebuilt as a result of the series of notorious earthquakes that devastated large parts of the city, probably during the third decade of the 7th century. This chapter aims to trace the 7th century monumental restoration of the basilica and discusses its significance for the Thessalonian episcopal see and the urban continuity of Thessalonike during the so-called ‘Dark Age’.
