Book Summary The Language of Space in Byzantine iconography (original) (raw)

The book The Language of Space in Byzantine iconography is the result of research on the use of space in Byzantine painting. On the civilization level it proposes for the first time the idea of Byzantine iconography as a complete system using unified language. The elements of this language represent brilliantly conceived and thought out spatial structures indicative of the liturgical affiliation of the sacral image. They build the structure of sacral space on the basis of Byzantine theological concepts. Although they can be seen in all Byzantine masterpieces, the principles of Byzantine structural iconography are proclaimed in verbal form for the first time in this book. When one gets to know structural iconography, one would be able to determine with great accuracy which icon conforms to its rules and has, therefore, sacral power, and which icon was not painted in conformity with those rules and is thus an ordinary painting on a religious subject.