Byzantine Art

 Animal in Medieval Art

Animals, both real and fantastic, occupied an important place in medieval art and thought.Artists readily employed animal motifs, along with foliate designs, as part of their decorative vocabulary.

 

 Art and Death in Medieval Byzantium

Dramatic illustrations of saintly deaths, as well as elaborate tombs featuring portraits of the deceased, were among the most powerful and persistent images in medieval Byzantium from the ninth to the fifteenth century.

 

 Art of the Christian Liturgy in the Middle Age 

The central focus of the liturgy is the Eucharist, in which Christians take consecrated wine and bread in commemoration of the Last Supper and Christ's death.The term liturgy refers to the rites and ceremonies.

 The Art of the Book in the Middle Ages

Before the invention of mechanical printing, books were handmade objects, treasured as works of art and as symbols of enduring knowledge.Indeed, in the Middle Ages, the book becomes an attribute of God.

Byzantine Art under Islam

The Byzantine empire's interaction with Islamic culture had a profound effect on its art. Islam's rise and military success were the greatest threat to the stability of the empire and its territories.

 Byzantine Ivories

The city of Constantinople was the foremost center of commerce and trade in Europe until the ascent of competitive centers on the Italian peninsula during the thirteenth century.

Byzantium

In 330 A.D, the first Christian ruler of the Roman empire, Constantine the Great, transferred the ancient imperial capital from Rome to the city of Byzantion located on the easternmost territory of the European continent, at a major intersection of east-west trade.

Carolingian Art

On Christmas day in the year 800, Charles, king of the Franks, raised to the rank of emperor. The significance: it identified Charles as a new kind of Christian Caesar who should rule a Holy Roman Empire renewed and sanctioned by the Catholic Church.

 The Face in Medieval Sculpture

The head was the chief symbolic part of the body for Western culture in the Middle Ages, from the waning days of the Roman empire to the Renaissance.

 

Hagia Sophia

 The church of Hagia Sophia (literally "Holy Wisdom") in Constantinople. Hagia Sophia served as the cathedra, or bishop's seat, of the city. Originally called Megale Ekklesia (Great Church), the name Hagia Sophia came into use around 430.