here - The Temple Gallery

The Temple Gallery
in association with ETR, Lausanne, Switzerland
17th November – 1st December 2016
BYZANTINE GLORIES
Ravenna, Venice and Sicily
Mosaics and Churches
Empress Theodora wife of Justinian the Great. Mosaic portrait in the Church of San Vitale, 6 th century
Itinerary for the Temple Gallery Visit to Italy incorporating Ravenna, Venice
and Sicily 17th November – 1st December 2016
Thursday 17th November: London BA 0540 dep. 08.40 to Bologna arr. 11.45 then
by coach (2/3 hours) to Ravenna Byron Hotel
18th Fri: Orthodox Baptistry; Archiepiscopal Chapel
(Dante’s Tomb); Arian Baptistry; San Giovanni Evangelista (426 AD. 13th-century mosaics
depicting the Crusades). Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo
19th Sat: Mausoleum of Galla Placidia; Basilica of San Vitale; Antiquities Museum
20th Sun: Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe; Tomb of Theodoric.
21st Mon: morning bus to Venice (3/4 hours) Hotel La Residenza (Campo Bandiera e
Moro). Visit to San Giorgio dei Greci
22nd Tue: San Marco, Museo Correr, [opera: La Traviata Palazzo Barbarigo
Minotto]
23rd Wed: Torcello; Chiesa dei Frari (Titian, Vivarini); Querini Stampalia Museum (Bellini)
24th Thur: Accademia; San Giorgio Maggiore (Palladio, Tintoretto)
25th Fri: bus to Vicenza: Leoni Montanaro Palazzo, Palladio; Museo
Civico (Paolo Veneziano) night in Padua, Hotel Majestic Toscanelli
26th Sat: Padua, Basilica San Antonio, Scrovegni Chapel
27th Sun: AZ 1466 dep. 12.10 to Rome arr. 13.25; AZ 1159 dep. 17.05 to Reggio
Calabria arr. 18.15 Lungomare Hotel or Lido
28th Mon: Riace Bronzes, ferry to Messina, bus to Cefalu (2 hrs) to Palermo (1hr)
Hotel Ai Cavalieri (or Hotel Politeama)
29th Tues: Palermo: Cathedral, Capella Palatina
30th Wed: Palermo: Monreale
1st December Thurs: AZ 1782 dep. 10.20 to Rome ; AZ 204 dep. 13.30 to London
arr. 15.20
‘The average western European reader may have a fairly clear (if not entirely
accurate) picture in his mind of ancient Rome; but where Byzantium is concerned –
about which, in this country at least, there seems always to have been a conspiracy of
silence – he has always remained a little vague.’ So writes John Julius Norwich in his
introduction to the Penguin edition of Robert Graves’ Count Belisarius.
The trip we are planning here will go a long way to dispel that vagueness. My own
lifetime of study has convinced me that seeing ourselves - situated in what we call the
‘history of western civilisation’ - is somewhat flat until we include a third dimension;
namely, Byzantium. Without Byzantium there would have been no Orthodox culture
in Russia and no Renaissance in Europe. In fact, as we shall see, from the 5th century
and for the next thousand years, Italy was intimately bound up with Constantinople;
Ravenna and Sicily, at different times, being part of the Byzantine Empire. We may
begin to see this in perspective as we experience the wonders, miraculously preserved,
of Byzantine art concentrated in Ravenna and Sicily, while Venice ‘the hinge of
Europe’ connects us to the religious, artistic and intellectual supremacy of
Constantinople.
Today the burning questions of our society are churned in the mill of politics and
economics whereas in Byzantium theology and religion were the energies that
galvanised all levels of society. The forces poured into the creation of churches and
mosaics in Ravenna and Sicily flowed from the highest spiritual, philosophical and
artistic aspirations of that creative age. They can still energise us and provide us with
insights into the great truths that Galla Placidia and people like her sought to
understand and live by.
Thursday 17th November: London BA 0540 dep. 08.40 to Bologna arr. 11.45 then
by coach (2/3 hours) to Ravenna Byron Hotel
Ravenna
O lone Ravenna! many a tale is told
Of thy great glories in the days of old:
Two thousand years have passed since thou didst see
Caesar ride forth to royal victory.”
( Ravenna, Oscar Wilde’s 1878 Newdigate Prize-winning poem)
“Of all the cities in Romanian lands,
The chief, and most renowned, Ravenna stands,
Adorned in ancient times with arms and arts,
And rich inhabitants, with generous hearts.”
(The Divine Comedy, Inferno, 1320 by Dante Alighieri)
…‘unequalled collection of early Christian mosaics.’
(Italian Hours, 1909 by Henry James)
Built as a naval port by the Emperor Augustus in the first century, Ravenna later
became the pivot between Byzantium, or the Eastern Roman Empire, and the Western
Roman Empire of which it was the capital after the fall of Rome in 410. In the 5th
century it came under the rule of Theodoric the Great, one of history’s most
fascinating characters. Theodoric, the great Ostrogothic general, had a privileged
childhood in the imperial court at Constantinople. A brilliant and ruthless soldier, he
regained Italy from the failing Western Empire dominated at the time by the Goths.
He ruled from Ravenna, where his mausoleum survives, together with several
churches he had decorated with mosaics. Like most of the Germanic tribes Theodoric
followed Arian Christianity and this is reflected in the details of some mosaic
decorations. Although Arianism was considered a heresy by the Orthodox, both forms
co-existed peaceably during his reign. After Theodoric’s death Ravenna returned to
Byzantium and eventually was the capital of the Kingdom of Lombardy. Eight early
Christian monuments of Ravenna are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
18th Fri: Orthodox Baptistry; Archiepiscopal Chapel
(Dante’s Tomb); Arian Baptistry; San Giovanni Evangelista (426 AD. 13th-century mosaics
depicting the Crusades). Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo;
19th Sat: Mausoleum of Galla Placidia; Basilica of San Vitale; Antiquities Museum
20th Sun: Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe; Tomb of Theodoric.
Orthodox Baptistry or Baptistry of Neon
The oldest surviving monument (and all that survives of the Orthodox Cathedral demolished in 1733) in Ravenna
built, circa 400. Called the Orthodox Baptistry to distinguish it from the Arian Baptistry built fifty years later by
Theodoric. Named after Bishop Neon who presided over its construction. Carl Jung wrote of a visionary
experience when he was here in 1930 by which Galla Placidia was related with his personal anima.
Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
The Good Shepherd, early 5th c, mosaic still in the ‘naturalistic’ or Hellenistic style of early Christianity.
Byzantine iconography would soon avoid, for example, the contraposto of the central figure. Aelia Galla Placidia
(388 – 450), a fastidious, highly educated devout Orthodox Christian, was related through family or by marriage to
six Roman Emperors and two Barbarian Kings and, from the age of nine, was a major force in state politics. She
was the daughter of Theodosius I, (379 – 395) the last emperor to rule over the whole of the Roman Empire and
the granddaughter of Valentinian I. She ruled as Regent for Valentinian III from 423 until his majority in 437. She
was consort to Ataulf, King of the Goths from 414 until his death in 415, and briefly Empress consort to
Constantius III in 421. She was also sister of the Emperors in the West Honorius and Arcadius. Placidia sponsored
the restoration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and built numerous churches.
Arian Baptistry
Built by Theodoric who was an Arian Christian. In his reign Arian Goths and the Orthodox Christians lived
peaceably together worshipping in separate buildings. Elsewhere in the Empire, and eventually everywhere,
Arianism was eradicated with severity. Some regard the Empty Throne here as a reference to Arianism. However
it may refer to an aspect of esoteric Christianity, i.e. to a truth beyond or higher than the capabilities of the human
mind. We will meet the theme again in Saint Mark’s in Venice.
Archiepiscopal Chapel
This tiny oratory contains the highly unusual image of Christ dressed as a warrior trampling on a lion and a snake.
Possibly an expression of anti-Arian views, circa 500
Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo
Mosaics from the reign of King Theodoric (496-526).
Repression of Arianism. After Theodoric’s death mosaic restorers ‘airbrushed’ him (or most of him) out of the
picture.
Mausoleum of Theoderic
built in 520
Basilica of San Vitale (548),
The building has two ambulatories, one above the other, circulating the central space. The continuous movement
of columned arches, barrel vaults, apses and semi-domes gives the space a most pleasing, almost operatic, effect.
The church was begun by Theodoric’s daughter Amalasuntha and finished in 540, just at the time that Justinian
regained Ravenna for the Empire. It was the model for Charlemagne’s 9th century Palatine Chapel in Aachen.
Justinian accompanied by representatives of the Army, Officials of the Imperial Court and the Church, the
foundations of his status as the most powerful man on earth.
Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe
Unusual symbolic representation of the Transfiguration. The church was built by the banker Julian Argentarius and
Ursicinus Bishop of Ravenna between 526 and 547. (Ravenna reverted to Byzantium in 540)
21st Mon: morning by private bus along the Adriatic cost to Venice (3/4 hours) Hotel
La Residenza (Campo Bandiera e Moro). Visit to San Giorgio dei Greci
22nd Tue: Museo Correr, San Marco, [opera: La Traviata Palazzo Barbarigo
Minotto]
23rd Wed: Torcello; Chiesa dei Frari (Titian, Vivarini); Querini Stampalia Museum (Bellini)
24th Thur: Accademia; San Giorgio Maggiore (Palladio, Tintoretto)
Venice
In the eleventh century the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I granted the Republic of
Venice astonishingly favourable rights by which they could trade in the Empire
without paying taxes in exchange for Venetian support against the Normans.
Throughout the late Middle Ages Venetians thrived in the games of ‘trade, piracy,
robbery and war … intimately and inextricably intermingled’ that were features of life
in the Mediterranean. The combination of their geographical location and their
distinctive political constitution provided unique opportunities that would lead to
fabulous riches from which the world’s first and greatest tourist site came into being.
After the West’s scandalous sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade (1204)
Crete and Corfu passed into Venetian control. Throughout the 14th century, and after
the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, waves of Greeks, encouraged by the Senate,
settled in Venice. By 1500 there were more than 4,000, comprising the largest foreign
community in the Republic and the ensuing cultural exchanges would influence the
Italian intellectual life and arts sometimes profoundly. The Italo-Byzantine style of
painting had appeared in the 13th century and the Veneto-Cretan School rose to its
greatest heights in the 15th and early 16th centuries.
San Marco
Interior West dome showing Pentecost and the Empty Throne. This great late 11th century basilica, originally the
Doge’s private chapel, was modelled on the great Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople and has affinities
with the Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, Cathédrale Saint-Front de Périgueux, Basilica of Sant'Antonio di Padova and
other Greek Cross churches built at the same time.
Museo Correr
The Picture Collection has Venetian paintings from the 13th to the 16th centuries. There are several works by
Bellini and examples from Antonella de Messina, Paolo da Veneziano, Vivarini. Pisanello and other great names.
Academia
Giorgione, La Tempesta, 1507
Crucifixion, Byzantine icon 1460
Works, by Bosch, Bellini , Canaletto, Carpacio, Giogione, Piero della Francesca, Mantegna et al.
Hellenic Institute (San Giorgio dei Greci)
Noli mi Tangere Veneto-Cretan icon
detail of an icon by George Klontzsas
Permission to have their own church was originally given to the Greeks of Venice in 1456. It was a contentious
issue, building did not begin until 1536 and only finished in 1577. The Hellenic Institute was founded in 1951 as a
centre for the study of Byzantine and post-Byzantine history. There is a small, high quality collection of Byzantine
and Cretan icons.
Torcello Cathedral
On an island 8 km from Venice the Cathedral is celebrated for its 11th century mosaics including the elongated
figure of the Virgin who stands in isolated dignity in the vast golden semidome.
25th Fri: bus to Vicenza: Leoni Montanaro Palazzo, Palladio; Museo
Civico (Paolo Veneziano) night in Padua, Hotel Majestic Toscanelli
26th Sat: Padua, Basilica San Antonio, Scrovegni Chapel
Vicenza
Palazzo Leoni Montanari
The Palazzo Leoni Montanari, housing a collection of Russian and Geek icons sponsored by the Banca Intesa
Sanpaolo. The exhibtion includes the celebrated icon of the Nativity, Novgorod 1475.
Palladian Villas
Palladio, Villa Rotonda 1592
The Renaissance architect Andreas Palladio much influenced English buildings in the grand 18th century style such
as Stowe or Stourhead, designed by such men as Burlington, Adam and Kent.
Padua
Scrovegni Chapel
Giotto Frescoes, 1305
It can be highly instructive to see Giotto’s work in the
light of the prevailing Byzantine iconography that he so dramatically abandoned. Giotto is popularly thought of as
the beginning of Western painting. The context of this itinerary may help us see that he is the part of the transition
between Byzantium and the West
27th Sun: flight: Venice - Rome - Reggio Lungomare Hotel or Lido
28th Mon: Riace Bronzes, ferry to Messina, bus to Cefalu (2 hrs) to Palermo (1hr)
Hotel Ai Cavalieri (or Palermo Hotel Politeama)
Reggio
Riace bronzes
Monumental bronze statues of 5th c. BC, discovered in 1972 and regarded by many as the finest examples of late
Classical Greek work in existence.
Sicily
29th Tues: Palermo: Cathedral, Capella Palatina
30th Wed: Palermo: Monreale, La Martorana (Santa Maria dell' Ammiraglio)
By the 6th century the Ostrogoths occupied most of the Western Roman Empire
though Justinian, the Emperor in Constantinople, was making plans for reunification.
Sicily was the first part of Italy to be regained for Byzantium by its greatest general,
Count Belisarius. In 535 Justinian made Sicily a Byzantine province though its
position was never really secure and it continued to be fought over by Goths, Vandals
Byzantines and Lombards. For three hundred years it was an Arab emirate until it fell
to the Normans in 1072 becoming, under Roger I and Roger II, the Kingdom of Sicily
part of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1198 the crown passed to Fredrick II, one of the
most enlightened men of the Middle Ages who established in Sicily and South Italy
Europe’s first centrally governed kingdom with an efficiently administered
bureaucratic system.
Thus in the 12th and 13th centuries Sicily became the most luminous centre of culture
in the Mediterranean, attracting scholars, scientists, poets, artists, and artisans of all
kinds both from Europe and the Middle East. The governance was by the rule of law
and there was social order and justice, rare commodities in the Middle Ages.
Muslims, Jews, Byzantine Greeks, Lombards, and Normans worked together to form
a society that historians have said created some of the most extraordinary buildings
that the world has ever seen.
Santa Maria dell' Ammiraglio (La Martorana)
Nativity
Mosaic detail showing Roger II receiving his crown from Christ. He was a powerful Norman king
here styling himself here in the regalia of a Byzantine Emperor. (1140-1180)
A more typical image would be that of head and shoulders only, as we see elsewhere. The enthroned figure is
unusual for a dome.
Basilica of Monreale
The Cathedral, a testament to the Normans as a world power, is built on a Latin plan but decorated with mosaics
by Byzantine artists between 1174 and 1182.
Cefalu Cathedral
Cefalu , built in the 1130s, predates Monreale by fifty years. The Christ Pantocrator, by the master mosaicist from
Constantinople, is regarded as the finest example of late Byzantine art in Italy and one of the greatest icons of
Christ in the world.
Capella Palatina
The Royal Chapel of the Norman kings of Sicily. Built at different times throughout the 12th century the chapel
combines a variety of styles: Norman architecture, Arabic arches, Fatimid painting and Byzantine dome and
mosaics.
1st December Thurs: AZ 1782 dep. 10.20 to Rome ; AZ 204 dep. 13.30 to London
arr. 15.20