Icons of Space: Advances in Hierotopy

Icons of Space: Advances in Hierotopy brings together important scholars of Byzantine religion, art, and architecture, to honour the work of renowned art historian Alexei Lidov. As well as his numerous publications, Lidov is well known for developing the concept of hierotopy, an innovative approach for studying the creation of sacred spaces. Hierotopy and the related concepts of ‘spatial icons’ and ‘image-paradigms’ emphasize fundamental questions about icons, including what defines them as structures, spaces, and experiences. Chapters in this volume engage with the overarching theme of icons of space by employing, contrasting, and complementing methods of hierotopy with more traditional approaches such as iconography. Examinations of icons have traditionally been positioned within strictly historical, theological, socio-economic, political, and art history domains, but this volume poses epistemological questions about the creation of sacred spaces that are instead inclusive of multi-layered iconic ideas and the lived experiences of the creators and beholders of such spaces. This book contributes to image theory and theories of architecture and sacred space. Simultaneously, it moves beyond colonial studies that predominantly focus on questions of religion and politics as expressions of privileged knowledge and power. This book will appeal to scholars and students of Byzantine history, as well as those interested in hierotopy and art history.

Table of Contents:
Introduction PART I: SACRED SPACE, ITS TRACES, AND REPRESENTATIONS 1. Sacred Spaces vs Holy Sites: On the Limits and Advantages of a Hierotopic Approach 2. Image-Paradigms: The Aesthetics of the Invisible 3. Dazzling Radiance: A Paradigm and a Quiz in Byzantine Chorography and Hierotopy 4. The Concept of Temenos and the Sectioning of Light 5. Byzantine Architectural Form Between Iconicity and Chôra 6. Hierochronotopy: Stepping into Timeful Space through Bonanno’s Twelfth Century Door for the Pisa Cathedral PART II: ICONS AND HOLY OBJECTS IN SACRED SPACE 7. The Marvelous Hierotopy of the Golden Altar in Milan: A Visual Constantinopolitan Fascination? 8. The Patriarchal Quarters in the South Gallery of Hagia Sophia: Where was the Patriarch’s Throne? 9. Seeing Toponymic Icons Hierotopically 10. The Adoration of the Magi: From Iconic Space to Icon in Space 11. Encountering Presence: Icon/Relic/Viewer PART III: EMBODIED EXPERIENCES OF SACRED SPACE 12. The Shrines of the Holy King Stefan the First-Crowned in the Sacral Topography of Serbian Lands 13. Travelling Objects and Topographies of Salvation: Agencies and Afterlives of Two Post-Byzantine Proskynētaria 14. The Sacred Space of the State and its Direction 15. Back to the Top of the Mountain: A Syrian Protological Theme in Late Antique and Medieval Representations of the World to Come 16. Rapture, Ecstasy, and the Construction of Sacred Space: Hierotopy in the Life of Symeon the New Theologian

About the Author :
Jelena Bogdanović is Associate Professor at Iowa State University, USA. She specializes in cross-cultural and religious themes in the architecture of the Balkans and Mediterranean. Her publications include The Framing of Sacred Space: The Canopy and the Byzantine Church (2017), and Perceptions of the Body and Sacred Space in Late Antiquity and Byzantium (2018).