''Ktetor'' ( el, κτήτωρ) or ''ktitor'' (; ka, ქტიტორი ''kt’it’ori''; ro, ctitor), meaning "founder", is a title given in the Middle Ages to the provider of funds for construction or reconstruction of an Eastern Orthodox church or monastery, for the addition of icons,

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

s, and other works of art. It was used in the Byzantine sphere. A Catholic equivalent of the term is "donator". At the time of founding, the ktetor often issued

typika A typikon (or ''typicon'', ''typica''; gr, , "that of the prescribed form"; Slavonic: Тvпико́нъ ''Typikonə'' or Оуставъ, ''ustavə'') is a liturgical book which contains instructions about the order of the Byzantine Rite off ...

, and was illustrated on

es ("ktetor portrait"). The female form is ''ktetorissa'' ( el, κτητόρισσα) or ''ktitoritsa'' ().

Sources

* * History of Eastern Orthodoxy Philanthropy Byzantine culture Greek words and phrases {{Orthodoxy-stub