"Sacred Sound and the Reflective Cornice" © BREPOLS PUBLISHERS THIS DOCUMENT MAY BE PRINTED FOR PRIVATE USE ONLY. IT MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER (original) (raw)
Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies, 2018
Edited volume, Contributors include: Peter Jeffery, Aural architecture in Jerusalem, Rome, Constantinople, and Alexandria Christina Maranci, The great outdoors: liturgical encounters with the early medieval Armenian church Christian Troelsgard, Byzantine chant notation: written documents in an aural tradition Walter D. Ray, Understanding Liturgy: the Byzantine liturgical commentaries Ravinder S. Binning, Christ's all-seeing eye in the dome Lora Webb, Transfigured: mosaic and liturgy at Nea Moni Laura Steenberge, We who musically represent the cherubim Ruth Webb, Spatiality, embodiment, and agency in ekphrasis of church buildings Wieslaw Woszczyk, Acoustics of Hagia Sophia: a scientific approach to the humanities and sacred space Jonathan Abel and Kurt James Werner, Live auralization of Cappella Romana at the Bing Concert Hall, Stanford University
Byzantine Churches in Albania: How Geometry and Architectural Composition Influence the Acoustics
Buildings
The Byzantine churches built between the 7th and the 15th centuries represent an architectural typology that has been developed along with other architectural styles. The evolution of the interior organization, to be composed of only a single nave for the oldest architecture and then developed with additional lateral naves, is one of the multiple aspects that characterizes this building type, studied mainly from an architectural perspective. The variety of roof morphology, being flat, double slope, vaulted or domed, contributes to determining the overall acoustics. This paper deals with the analysis of the acoustic characteristics related to five Byzantine churches located in Albania, specifically in Berat and Cete. A comparison of the impulse response (IR) measured inside each church was given by analyzing the most appropriate acoustic parameters and in line with ISO 3382. The acoustic surveys were undertaken with a minimal furniture and without any audience. The results highlight ...
Acoustic Vessels as an Expression of Medieval Music Tradition in Serbian Sacred Architecture
Muzikologija/Musicology 22, 2017
Archaeoacoustics is a multidisciplinary field of research focused on the history of the relatedness of the field of sound and architecture. The architectural history of Europe, from Antiquity to the modern period, is abundant in the findings of vessels, which are considered to have an acoustic purpose. This paper addresses these acoustic vessels embedded in the massive walls of sacred architecture in medieval Serbia (15 churches). We considered the wide context of current archaeoacoustic research, in order to argue that this practice can be regarded as an expression of a certain medieval musical tradition.
The Cornice (A Recent History)
House Tour: Views of the Unfurnished Interior, 2018
In 1809, the Prussian architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel was asked to design a bedchamber for Queen Louise. 1 The image he presented of the scheme contained, amongst other romantic fancies, a startling feature: an elaborate interior cornice capping the walls, festooned with owls taking fight, holding rings in their mouths on which the draperies were suspended to encircle her bed. The gilded cornice ran around the tops of the walls on all sides, and was brought substantially forward of the junction between wall and ceiling, not only to hide it, but also to allow the birds’ wings to cast looming shadows across the receding gap behind. With this single interior detail, Schinkel introduced into the room the perceptual possibility of spatial extension; that is, the ceiling, as the plane hidden from view, seemed to possess the potential to extend infnitely beyond the confnes of the walls, as if taking on the appearance of a dawn sky under which the queen might regally awake. Exposed to this endless sky, the queen’s bed suddenly appears in the image as an object in a game of inversion, in which the room is as exposed as the public square; and the walls that enclose her appear as building facades topped, in classical fashion, by their customary cornices
This paper offers a close reading of the passages in the Historia Ekkle-siastike kai Mystike Theoria, a liturgical commentary attributed to Germanos I, patriarch of Constantinople (d. 730), that pertain to the church building. The His-toria's interpretation is highly symbolic, steeped in scripture and dependent on earlier and contemporary theological thought. On occasion, the text sheds light on actual architectural developments, as in the case of the skeuophylakion. On the whole, however, the discussion of architecture is rather vague. I argue that the Historia is part of a long exegetical tradition on the liturgy that disregards the functional aspects of church buildings, a disconnect enabled by the adaptability of Byzantine liturgical rites.
Experiencing the Portico Spaces of Middle and Late Byzantine Monastic Churches
Religious Buildings Made in Byzantium: Old Monuments, New Interpretations, 2025
Focusing on the experiences of both clerics and lay people within the monastic churches of the Middle and Late Byzantine periods, this chapter delves into spaces that have received scant attention to date: those of the porticoes attached to the facades of buildings. The study begins by examining the architectural characteristics and spatial meanings of these semi-independent structures, located between the exterior and the interior, through a reflective use of the concept of liminality. By their nature and location, and the practical advantages they offer, porticoes are the sites of a plurality of experiences, which this chapter then explores. It investigates the shared experience of spatiality shaped by the social interactions occurring within these places, as well as the individual experiences, enhanced by multisensory phenomena.
Religions, 2024
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in analyzing the manufacturing techniques of Byzantine church doors in laboratory settings. However, the connection between the iconography and significance of the décor of church doors and their liturgical performativity, as well as their parallels with iconostases in Byzantium, remained a relatively underexplored area of study. This article seeks to delve deeper into these intersections. By focusing on the relationship between the iconography of church doors in Middle to Late Byzantium and their connection to the sacred space and liturgical practices, I aim to shed light on how these artworks played a crucial role in the sacred experience of the Byzantines. This exploration will not highlight only the aesthetic evolution of church door artwork but also emphasize the communal and embodied nature of the religious experience during the Byzantine era. Their intricate designs were not merely decorative elements but served as portals to the divine, enriching the salvation journey of worshippers as they crossed the threshold into the liturgical spaces. By conducting an examination of the development of door iconography and their symbolism throughout the empire’s history, the transformation of narrative depictions from the Middle Byzantine era to the Palaiologan period, culminating in a convergence of symbolic meanings within the sacred space of the church, is delineated. This transformation is further exemplified by a sculpted church door from the Principality of Wallachia. By bridging the gap between art history and religious studies, this article aims to rekindle interest in the profound symbolism and significance of Byzantine church doors and their relation to sacred liturgical space, offering a broader perspective on an important aspect of Byzantine heritage.
Speculum, 2017
Soundscapes of Byzantium is an international collaborative effort that seeks to in- vestigate Byzantine liturgical spaces through the scientific analysis of acoustics in conjunction with the study of changing architectural forms, the documentation of imagery inspired by choral performance and hymn composition, and the transcrip- tion and recording of medieval chant. In June 2014, an interdisciplinary team of scholars studied eight of medieval Thessaloniki’s most significant churches in order to assess the relationship of architectural design and acoustics; the association of chant, acoustics, architecture, and monumental painting; and the role of sound in the experience of the medieval worshipper.
Liturgical Fittings and Fixtures in the Early Byzantine Church on Djanavara Hill near Varna
2022
The monastery church on Djanavara Hill near Varna (Odessos) (middle of the 5th-early 7th century AD) has a very strange architecture scheme that still poses difficult questions. The following paper focuses on a specific topic connected to the church: the liturgical arrangement of its interior, and all the related liturgical fittings and fixtures therein. Analysis of the interior relies on two sources of information: the available primary archaeological evidence, which the author was able to investigate personally, and the information in the archives which was collected during the first archaeological campaign in the early 20th century. The process of comparing and combining evidence from these two sources provided the necessary information to draw a relatively consistent picture of the liturgical fittings and fixtures, reflecting the changes and modifications that happened during the period of the church's use. This study resulted in several observations and conclusions. The interior of the church (and perhaps the whole building), suffered some form of damage and was subsequently extensively repaired. Some specifics in the liturgical fittings and fixtures points to those repairs being made at a certain time during the 6th century AD, most probably in the first half or around the middle of the century. The repairs should be considered a very important reference point in the chronology of Djanavara church in general, and of the liturgical fittings and fixtures in its interior in particular. It was expected that the analysis would also help to identify the liturgical tradition to which the church on Djanavara Hill belonged, and through this to bring some clarification to the complex problem regarding the origins of its unusual architecture. The results, however, are inconclusive. Nothing from the liturgical fittings and fixtures could be connected explicitly with the Near East, and this weakens the support for the dominant hypothesis of a Near Eastern origin of the building. On the contrary, the liturgical arrangement of the interior is common for the Diocese of Thracia, and some of the features should be explained with an influence from Constantinople.