"Monumentalised" Ideologies of Imperial Revival and Survival in Late Byzantine Albania

Type: 
Lecture
Audience: 
Open to the Public
Building: 
Nador u. 13
Room: 
001
Thursday, November 17, 2011 - 5:30pm
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Date: 
Thursday, November 17, 2011 - 5:30pm to 7:30pm

The discovery of two sets of wall-painted imperial portraits in Late Byzantine churches of modern Albania invites a comprehensive appreciation of imperial imagery on more than one level. Firstly, they add to the minimal evidence of such images that were so far known from the Empire and provide an adequate platform for understanding the iconographic/ typological development of the genre during the Early Palaiologan Period (1261-1341). In the process, it becomes increasingly evident that this ‘visual’ development can be viewed as reflecting the more or less subtle alterations that occurred in the political thought and ideology of the period. In addition to shedding light on the use of art as historical source, the lecture supports that the newly acquired evidence from the territories of medieval Albania were an intrinsic part of a broader communication practice (‘policy’?) aiming at safeguarding the interests of the Byzantine Empire. In doing so, it brings forth the challenging relation between art and ‘propaganda’ in the hope of discussing the functions of both in Late Byzantium.

Anna Christidou is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the CEU/CEMS. She graduated from the University of Athens, Greece (BA in History, Archaeology and Art History) and received her MA (2006) and PhD (2011) in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art, in London, UK. Her PhD thesis is titled: ‘Unknown Byzantine Art in the Balkan Area: Art, Power and Patronage in 12th to 14th century churches in Albania’, supervised by Dr. Antony Eastmond. She has held scholarships from the Greek State Scholarship Foundation (IKY) and the A.G. Leventis Foundation. She has lived and worked in Albania for several years where she picked up her art historic interest in the country and cooperated with the Museum of Berat and the National Institute of Monuments. She has worked in excavations in Greece, France and Cyprus. She has delivered papers on Medieval Albania in various conferences and has currently three publications underway. Interests: Byzantine art in all forms with emphasis on iconography (wall paintings, manuscripts, coins, liturgical objects); Medieval art in the Balkan region; Artistic interaction in the Eastern Mediterranean; movement of ideas through art; medieval multicultural societies; association between art and the formulation of social and political identities; functions of art and patronage; use of images as historical evidence; medieval political ideologies and their accommodation through art.