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Instructors: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Vasiliki Tsamakda
Event type:
Lecture
Displayed in timetable as:
07.012.16_130
Hours per week:
2
Credits:
3,0
Language of instruction:
German
Min. | Max. participants:
- | -
Requirements / organisational issues:
Byzantine mosaics are among the most spectacular and at the same time, one of the most enduring material legacies of the medieval Eastern Roman Empire. Composed of thousands of tiny stones (tesserae) that were gilded or coated with luminous color pigments, these works survived the centuries relatively unscathed. Originally planned and executed as sacred decoration for churches, palaces and public buildings, such mosaic ensembles are found in the monuments of the Byzantine world throughout the centuries. In order to understand their magnificent messages we need to take a closer look at the medium and its ideological background. The focus of this lecture series concerns the art of mosaic in the Middle and Late Byzantine period, with a sidelong glance at monumental ensembles on non-Byzantine territory such as the mosaics in St. Mark's Church in Venice, the Church of St. Sophia in Kiev or the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. To round off the overview of Byzantine mosaic art, we will also examine the genre of “miniature mosaic”, that is, the group of Byzantine mosaic icons from the Middle and Late Byzantine period.
Recent Literature:
Liz James, Mosaics in the medieval World: from late antiquity to the fifteenth century, Cambridge Univ. Press 2017
Connor, Carolyn L.; Saints and spectacle: Byzantine mosaics in their cultural setting, New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2016
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