The Framing of Sacred Space
The Canopy and the Byzantine Church
Published on 24. August 2017
Book
Hardback
452 pages
978-0-19-046518-6 (ISBN)
Description
The Framing of Sacred Space offers the first topical study of canopies as essential spatial and symbolic units in Byzantine-rite churches. Centrally planned columnar structures--typically comprised of four columns and a roof--canopies had a critical role in the modular processes of church design, from actual church furnishings in the shape of a canopy to the church's structural core. As architectonic objects of basic structural and design integrity, canopies integrate an archetypical image of architecture and provide means for an innovative understanding of the materialization of the idea of the Byzantine church and its multi-focal spatial presence.
The Framing of Sacred Space considers both the material and conceptual framing of sacred space and explains how the canopy bridges the physical and transcendental realms. As a crucial element of church design in the Byzantine world, a world that gradually abandoned the basilica as a typical building of Roman imperial secular architecture, the canopy carried tectonic and theological meanings and, through vaulted, canopied bays and recognizable Byzantine domed churches, established organic architectural, symbolic, and sacred ties between the Old and New Covenants. In such an overarching context, the canopy becomes an architectural parti, a vital concept and dynamic design principle that carries the essence of the Byzantine church. The Framing of Sacred Space highlights significant factors in understanding canopies through specific architectural settings and the Byzantine concepts of space, thus also contributing to larger debates about the creation of sacred space and related architectural taxonomy.
The Framing of Sacred Space considers both the material and conceptual framing of sacred space and explains how the canopy bridges the physical and transcendental realms. As a crucial element of church design in the Byzantine world, a world that gradually abandoned the basilica as a typical building of Roman imperial secular architecture, the canopy carried tectonic and theological meanings and, through vaulted, canopied bays and recognizable Byzantine domed churches, established organic architectural, symbolic, and sacred ties between the Old and New Covenants. In such an overarching context, the canopy becomes an architectural parti, a vital concept and dynamic design principle that carries the essence of the Byzantine church. The Framing of Sacred Space highlights significant factors in understanding canopies through specific architectural settings and the Byzantine concepts of space, thus also contributing to larger debates about the creation of sacred space and related architectural taxonomy.
Reviews / Votes
For the first time a thorough investigation examines the symbolism, cultural and religious value, and fortune of the canopy as a basic element of church architecture in Byzantium and related cultures (300-1500)...This book, which receives an elegant treatment from Oxford University Press, is furnished with rare illustrations and a number of charts and drawings that clarify the author's points and provide the nonexpert reader with precious help. Indeed, this is an invaluable scholarly contribution that helps us to understand the complexity of thoughts and beliefs behind what may appear to be a small architectural element, the canopy. * Maria Cristina Carile, University of Bolog, Speculum * The book is beautifully produced with many good-quality color photographs and fine drawings. It also collects and discusses an immense amount of material ranging from Syria to Italy, and from the third century to the post-Byzantine period. ... this book will likely become a useful reference for the archaeological material it assembles. * Vasileios Marinis, Bryn Mawr Classical Review * The Framing of Sacred Space is a major contribution to the field of Byzantine studies. Having devoted over a decade to studying churches of the Byzantine rite and earning both a master's as well as a PhD., Bogdanovic's book is impeccably researched. This author's scholarly study serves to further knowledge in architecture, fine arts, and religion. The book is highly recommended for research level library collections in these areas. * ARLIS * Jelena Bogdanovic's monograph offers the first comprehensive study of a microarchitectural unit of generic form and basic tectonic integrity with a vast geographical and chronological span ... the book's major contribution is the re-assessment of the canopy as a powerful signifier, which provided dominant performance frameworks for liturgical and paraliturgical services. * Dimitra Kotoula, Medieval Archaeology * [A] welcome addition to the study of medieval art and architecture, as well as the framing devices, both physical and rhetorical, that were used to make the divine manifest in ecclesiastical space ... This monograph should be a standard reference and starting-point for future discussions of spatial archetypes in Byzantium and the medieval world. * Nathan S. Dennis, Sacred Architecture *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Illustrations
141 color and 44 black-and-white illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 260 mm
Width: 183 mm
Thickness: 33 mm
Weight
1448 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-046518-6 (9780190465186)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
06/2017
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€39.49
Available for download
E-Book
06/2017
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€30.49
Available for download
Person
Jelena Bogdanovic is Associate Professor of Architecture at Iowa State University. Trained as an architect and an historian of art and architecture, she specializes in the architectural history of Byzantine, Slavic, Western European, and Islamic cultures in the Balkans and the Mediterranean.
Content
Acknowledgements
Notes on sources, translations, and illustrations
List of abbreviations
List of tables
List of illustrations
Maps
Introduction
Chapter 1: Ciborium or Canopy? Textual Evidence on Canopies in the Byzantine Church
Chapter 2: Canopies in the Byzantine Church: Archaeological and Architectural Evidence
Chapter 3: Place-Making: The Place of the Canopy within the Church
Chapter 4: The Micro-Architectural Framing of Sacred Space
Chapter 5: Nested in its Own Shape: The Canopy and the Byzantine Church
Conclusions
Appendices
Tables
Bibliography
Index
Notes on sources, translations, and illustrations
List of abbreviations
List of tables
List of illustrations
Maps
Introduction
Chapter 1: Ciborium or Canopy? Textual Evidence on Canopies in the Byzantine Church
Chapter 2: Canopies in the Byzantine Church: Archaeological and Architectural Evidence
Chapter 3: Place-Making: The Place of the Canopy within the Church
Chapter 4: The Micro-Architectural Framing of Sacred Space
Chapter 5: Nested in its Own Shape: The Canopy and the Byzantine Church
Conclusions
Appendices
Tables
Bibliography
Index