Godlewski, Włodzimierz: Pachoras - the cathedrals of Aetios, Paulos and Petros: the architecture (Warsaw, 2006)

Pachoras: The Cathedrals of Aetios, Paulos and Petros

The second landing, measuring 1.00 by 1.00 m,
was erected c. 0.20 m above the stone floor and
rested on a vault supported this time on the
central pillar and south wall. The third flight of
steps was founded partly on the vault under the
landing vault and the third section of the vaulting
supported on a set-off cut in the stone face of the
west wall of the cathedral and the central pillar.
The height of the vault, which opened onto the
narthex, was 2.45 m. The balustrade constructed
on the northern side of the third flight of steps
above the vault seems to constitue later repairs.
This is indicated by the plaster in the northern
face of the vault and on the balustrade.

The staircase hall was covered with a barrel
vault springing from a set-off cut in the west wall
of the cathedral, at a height of c. 3.70 m above
the landing floor, and on the west wall of the
room, supported on the south wall of the church,
above the entrance to the narthex. The interior
was finely plastered and whitewashed. There is no
certainty that the thick limestone plaster covering
the stone south and west walls of the cathedral
next to the platform entrance is actually con-
temporary with the building of the staircase or
precedes it. The evidence is not clear on this

Fig. 125. Late Cathedral. Southwestern staircase, inside
view from the north

Fig. 123. Late Cathedral. Southwestern staircase, from
the west

Fig. 124. Late Cathedral. Southwestern staircase, inside
view from the west

128

PAM Supplement Series 1