Abstract Nersēs Šnorhali (1101–1173), a pivotal ecclesiastical leader, significantly transformed the Armenian Breviary by introducing hundreds of musical compositions. Some are included in codices called the manrusmunk’ – melismatic hymn collections that include an essential part of the Breviary. This study focuses on the visual decoration of manrusmunk’ manuscripts, with a particular emphasis on their relationship to Nersēs Šnorhali and the illuminations accompanying his melismatic songs. While Astġik Gevorgyan has analyzed Šnorhali’s portraits primarily within the Matenadaran collection, research presented here broadens the scope by examining manrusmunk’ manuscripts from various collections, with particular focus on previously unstudied miniatures. The findings reveal that the iconography of Šnorhali in manrusmunk’ manuscripts exhibit distinctive features compared to his depictions in manuscripts of other genres, indicating a unique visual tradition.
Abstract The Lost Apse Mosaic in Lyon Cathedral in Light of its Titulus . Proposed Iconography and Argument for a Carolingian Attribution The now-lost apse mosaic of the ancient cathedral of Lyon is attested exclusively through the ten hexametric verses of its titulus , transcribed in the ninth century by Mannon, a disciple of the deacon Florus. In accordance with the ekphrastic tradition, the text poetically evokes the theophanic vision once displayed above in the conch, providing crucial evidence for reconstructing its iconographic program. The composition likely comprised a Maiestas Domini , the Apostolic College, the Heavenly Jerusalem, the four rivers of Paradise, the Agnus Dei , and possibly John the Baptist (perhaps represented symbolically through the allusion to the River Jordan). This study proposes a hypothetical visual reconstruction of these elements and their spatial configuration within the apse, highlighting the dialectic between figural representation and liturgical implications. Furthermore, several arguments are presented in support of assigning the titulus (and the mosaic work of which it was part) to Florus’s initiative. This is not an obvious attribution, considering the numerous references to early Christian culture present both in the verses of the inscription and in the iconographic subjects mentioned therein.
The article advances a novel proposal for the early medieval origins of a painting, now privately held, from Rome’s Santa Maria in Trastevere that shows a bust of Saint Agatha. During the nineteenth-century restorations of the basilica, commissioned by Pope Pius ix and carried out by architect Virginio Vespignani, “ una imagine di s. Agata a fresco ” came to light under the medieval level of the building dated to the reign of Pope Innocent ii (r. 1130–1143): this image of Saint Agatha would be precisely the painting. Analysis of a series of unpublished documents indicative of certain moments in the life of the painting supports this identification and leads to an art historical reinterpretation of St Maria in Trastevere in the early Middle Ages.
Abstract Entombed Images and Monumental Icons. The Intentional Conservation of the Santa Susanna Paintings in Rome The paintings discovered in the 1990s beneath the sacristy of the Church of Santa Susanna in Rome are exceptional, among early medieval works, for their excellent state of preservation. This paper reexamines evidence concerning the dating of the paintings and suggests that their deliberate concealment within a sarcophagus was most likely carried out during works promoted by Pope Leo iii (795–816). It considers potential rationales for this seemingly unprecedented act of preservation, taking into account the perception and status of the images when they were still on their original support. The Santa Susanna paintings thus provide a valuable perspective from which to rethink the status of sacred images in eighth- and ninth-century Rome.
Abstract The “Right Hand” of Giovanni Pisano. Marco Romano and the Scrovegni Chapel Altar Statues Of the three marble statues on the altar of Padua’s Scrovegni Chapel, dated to 1303–1305, only one is signed by Giovanni Pisano, although all three have been attributed without hesitation to this innovative fourteenth-century sculptor active in northern Italy. This essay seeks to demonstrate that only two of the figures – the Madonna with Child and the right-hand Angel bearing a candelabrum – were directly sculpted by Giovanni Pisano. The third – the Angel on the left of the group – should be ascribed to a different sculptor. Drawing on a combination of stylistic-formal and technical-executive analysis, enabled by a new, in-depth photographic survey, the essay argues that this second sculptor – the “right hand” of Giovanni Pisano – was none other than Marco Romano, who collaborated with Giovanni Pisano in the 1290s in the workshop responsible for the portals of Siena Cathedral. As scholars have long recognized, Marco Romano’s work for Enrico Scrovegni is known to have led to his commission at San Simeone Grande in Venice in 1318.
Abstract The provenance of the panel painting of John the Baptist Enthroned in Christ Church Picture Gallery is documented as the sacristy of the ancient Florentine parish church of Santa Maria degli Ughi (now demolished). Sacristies, despite their crucial role in servicing the liturgy and safeguarding church valuables, have been neglected by art historians. Florentine Trecento sacristies and the Sacrist’s important role are considered here. The highly unusual iconography of the Oxford Baptist is analysed, and its attribution to Lippo di Benivieni – an important Florentine painter who directed a successful workshop – is confirmed. The painting is related to the earlier Baptistery mosaics in Florence and also to the burgeoning cult of Saint John in the city’s civic ceremony.
This paper presents an archaeological analysis of the Cupola Church in Yeghegis, highlighting the distinctive construction features of a building representative of an architectural type widely found in medieval Armenia. Through stratigraphic investigation, the research details the church's construction procedures, the traces of the devotion of the worshippers, and the restoration interventions of the 1970s. By situating the building within the broader framework of sacred architecture in Vayots' Dzor and the neighboring regions, the study narrows the dating of the church to the late thirteenth century and traces architectural continuities and influences that contribute to our understanding of the architectural program promoted by the & Omacr;rb & emacr;lean dynasty in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
In the nineteenth-and early twentieth-century Croatia-Slavonia, Dalmatia, and Istria, the varieties of Neo-Byzantine architecture took shape within a landscape of exceptional ethnic and confessional diversity. Neomedieval styles functioned above all as signs of religious identity: Neo-Gothic and Neo-Romanesque for Catholic and Protestant communities, Neo-Byzantine for Orthodox and Greek-Catholic ones. Yet the Catholic Church also invoked Neo-Byzantine forms, prompted by the search for a suitable national style or the wish to assert regional traditions. & Dstrok;akovo Cathedral (1866-1882), the Madonna del Mare in Pula (1891-1898/1918), and the Church of St Blaise in Zagreb (1910-1913) reveal the extent to which the style could serve simultaneously as a marker of confessional difference and as an instrument of Catholic self-fashioning.
The Lost Apse Mosaic in Lyon Cathedral in Light of its Titulus. Proposed Iconography and Argument for a Carolingian Attribution The now-lost apse mosaic of the ancient cathedral of Lyon is attested exclusively through the ten hexametric verses of its titulus, transcribed in the ninth century by Mannon, a disciple of the deacon Florus. In accordance with the ekphrastic tradition, the text poetically evokes the theophanic vision once displayed above in the conch, providing crucial evidence for reconstructing its iconographic program. The composition likely comprised a Maiestas Domini, the Apostolic College, the Heavenly Jerusalem, the four rivers of Paradise, the Agnus Dei, and possibly John the Baptist (perhaps represented symbolically through the allusion to the River Jordan). This study proposes a hypothetical visual reconstruction of these elements and their spatial configuration within the apse, highlighting the dialectic between figural representation and liturgical implications. Furthermore, several arguments are presented in support of assigning the titulus (and the mosaic work of which it was part) to Florus's initiative. This is not an obvious attribution, considering the numerous references to early Christian culture present both in the verses of the inscription and in the iconographic subjects mentioned therein.
unprecedented corpus of Armenian inscriptions found in Yeghegis and on its outskirts is presented here. Although many of the inscriptions have been published before, this compilation provides new readings and interpretations-verified in situ-and a first English translation of their texts. The product will serve as an important research tool for future studies on Yeghegis, Armenian epigraphy, and the area's social history.
The article advances a novel proposal for the early medieval origins of a painting, now privately held, from Rome's Santa Maria in Trastevere that shows a bust of Saint Agatha. During the nineteenth-century restorations of the basilica, commissioned by Pope Pius ix and carried out by architect Virginio Vespignani, "una imagine di s. Agata a fresco" came to light under the medieval level of the building dated to the reign of Pope Innocent ii (r. 1130-1143): this image of Saint Agatha would be precisely the painting. Analysis of a series of unpublished documents indicative of certain moments in the life of the painting supports this identification and leads to an art historical reinterpretation of St Maria in Trastevere in the early Middle Ages.
Neo-Byzantine architecture in Georgia constitutes a pivotal chapter in the history of colonial architecture and the intertwined trajectories of empire, religion, and artistic revival. Following the gradual annexation of Georgia by the Russian Empire and the suppression of the Georgian Church's autocephaly, the region emerged as a space of complex cultural negotiation. Georgian ecclesiastical traditions, deeply rooted in the Orthodox world, informed the aesthetic and scholarly imagination of Russian architects, shaping the development of Neo-Byzantine architecture across the empire. Between 1851 and 1907, four cathedrals built in this style rose in Tiflis, Kutaisi, Batumi, and Poti. Conceived as both sacred monuments and instruments of imperial representation, these cathedrals embody diverse interpretations of the Neo-Byzantine idiom while underscoring the geopolitical and symbolic importance of the Caucasus within the imperial project. In this context, Georgian medieval architecture was not merely appropriated but reinterpreted, culminating in the Church of St George of Kashveti, a synthesis of colonial authority and national reawakening. The Neo-Byzantine movement in Georgia thus operated as both a vehicle of domination and a medium through which aspirations to cultural autonomy could be rearticulated.
/ This article offers the microhistory of a trilingual fourteenth-century gravestone, located in Yeghegis, Armenia, that features an interlocking set of inscriptions in Arabic, Persian, and Armenian. Whereas the Arabic and Armenian epigraphs commemorate the death of the fallen "martyr" Tawakkul (in Arabic), or T'avak'al (in Armenian), both inscriptions are mediated by a so-called "traveling" quatrain in Persian, which provides the ambiguous cultural and religious orientation of the deceased with a Persianate affective grounding. By treating the trilingual gravestone of Yeghegis as a microhistorical object that sheds light on multilingualism(s) in medieval Armenia, this article seeks to excavate diverse sociolinguistic practices and behaviors that are invisible from the generally monolingual corpus of Armenian historiography. Through a series of intensive readings, it argues that the gravestone of Tawakkul/T'avak'al creates knowledge about the deceased provisionally, in a cumulative and playful manner, contingent on the linguistic and cultural orientations of the visitor standing before it. The gravestone thus provides a selective model for considering how multiple languages and scripts interfaced in dynamic ways, giving rise to a diverse portfolio of premodern multilingualism(s) in the region.
Ners & emacr;s & Scaron;norhali (1101-1173), a pivotal ecclesiastical leader, significantly transformed the Armenian Breviary by introducing hundreds of musical compositions. Some are included in codices called the manrusmunk' - melismatic hymn collections that include an essential part of the Breviary. This study focuses on the visual decoration of manrusmunk' manuscripts, with a particular emphasis on their relationship to Ners & emacr;s & Scaron;norhali and the illuminations accompanying his melismatic songs. While Ast & gdot;ik Gevorgyan has analyzed & Scaron;norhali's portraits primarily within the Matenadaran collection, research presented here broadens the scope by examining manrusmunk' manuscripts from various collections, with particular focus on previously unstudied miniatures. The findings reveal that the iconography of & Scaron;norhali in manrusmunk' manuscripts exhibit distinctive features compared to his depictions in manuscripts of other genres, indicating a unique visual tradition.
Located on the southwestern edge of Yeghegis in Vayots' Dzor, the so-called Old Church is a little-known ninth-century religious structure largely absent from historical sources. Through detailed archaeological analysis, this study reconstructs the church's architectural evolution, identifying three phases: the original ninth-century construction, an eleventh-century reconstruction of the western entrance, and a later collapse likely caused by seismic activity. Architectural parallels with the nearby St Sion Church of Arates support the dating provided by an inscription from 851.The study also hypothesizes that the church's eleventh-century modifications may have been influenced by the artistic trends of the Bagratid period. By applying methodologies of Building Archaeology, this research provides new insights into the construction history of the Old Church and the broader historical context of early medieval Armenian ecclesiastical architecture.
The collection of medieval ceramics at the Regional Museum in Yeghegnadzor', the center of the historical region of Vayots' Dzor (Armenian), was accumulated over several decades. Many items were found by chance during agricultural work, as well as during the clearing and restoration of major monasteries such as Noravank', Gndevank', and Shatinvank'. More ceramic material was brought to the museum from archaeological excavations. Most of the ceramics in the museum's storerooms remained in an unprocessed, fragmentary state and have heretofore never been published. With the cooperation between the Museum of Local Lore in Yeghegnadzor and Yerevan State University, the museum's medieval ceramics have been restored, and some items were reconstructed in the archaeological laboratory of the Armenian Studies Institute of ysu. As a result, research could be conducted on the dating and place of production of these artifacts. Of course, random material in small quantities hardly suffices to give a clear sense of objects' diffusion and provenance at this place and time, but it enables at least a suggestion of new directions for study. For example, some of the thirteenth-and fourteenth-century ceramics described here, which were found in Vayots' Dzor, were most likely made in Dvin and Garni; the fifteenth-and sixteenth-century ceramics probably appeared in Vayots' Dzor with trade caravans from Central Asia and the Golden Horde. The article, by putting into circulation this largely overlooked material, is a first step toward a close analysis of these hypotheses.
Blending architectural history with cultural identity studies, this article identifies the Armenian cathedral of Saint-Jean in Paris (1904) as a pivotal site for transmitting medieval Armenian architectural forms into Western building practice. Challenging assumptions about stylistic origins, it traces how the distinctive cross-arched vault - originally used in Armenian monastic gavits - was reinterpreted by the architect Albert Guilbert and later adopted by French interwar architects such as Jacques Droz, becoming a defining element of French Art Deco churches. The analysis shows how this structural motif migrated through diaspora networks to churches in Cairo, Antelias, Baghdad, and beyond. The cross-arched vault became a visual marker of Armenian identity in diaspora architecture, shaped by Paris-trained architects and re-rooted in Armenia by the early twenty-first century. This study thus demonstrates the potential of using a distinctive architectural element as a key to unlocking the iconographic coding and socio-historical contexts of revivalist architecture in the twentieth century.
The British Arts and Crafts movement offered one of the most compelling reinterpretations of Byzantine art and architecture within nineteenth-century European neo-Byzantinism. Its founding members approached the Byzantine building and its decoration through the lens of the movement's own aesthetic principles. By examining the theoretical writings and research agendas of leading Arts and Crafts pioneers, above all the constellation formed by John Ruskin and William Morris, this article argues that the Byzantine monument was reimagined as a striking instance of architecture and art at once inventive and rational, economical yet richly expressive. It was celebrated as the product of honest, collective craftsmanship, imbued with pleasure, freedom, and joy - still vibrant and functional - and thus as a model of a truly modern art and architecture: created by the people and destined for the people.
