Explore the beauty of Byzantine art on our webpage showcasing a collection of images. Byzantine art, from 4th century to 1453, known for rich colors, intricate patterns and religious themes. Browse our collection to gain a deeper understanding of this fascinating historical period.
Details: The Evangelist is depicted as having already copied Lk. 1:1-2. This large Ethiopian Gospel Book was made in the first half of the sixteenth century and is written in Ge'ez, the traditional liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Containing eleven full-page miniatures, six canon tables,...
This majestic painting was created for a large iconostasis, a screen separating the altar sanctuary from the nave in Orthodox churches. Here, Abraham and Sarah sacrifice a calf to honor their guests, who reveal themselves as angels (Genesis 18:1-10). Christian theologians interpreted the three angels as Old Testament precursors...
The smaller fragment (37.2751C) shows Christ as High Priest clad in episcopal vestments, blessing the bishop saints Basil of Caesarea, John Chrysostom (37.2751A), Gregory of Nazianzus, and Nicholas (37.2751B). The three pieces, now separate, once formed part of a two-winged door in the center of an iconostasis,...
Details: The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral is a Greek Orthodox cathedral located in Chicago, Illinois[1][2]. It was established in 1892 by a Greek immigrant community from Laconia and the Greek Islands[1]. The church was built on its present site in 1910 and faithfully models the Byzantine-Renaissance style...
Details: The Georgian inscription on the handle of this cross indicates that its silver frame was commissioned in 1713 by Domentius IV (Damian Bagrationi), Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church from 1705 to 1741, "for the forgiveness of his sins." The woodcarving inside carries Greek inscriptions and was...
Details: This large Ethiopian Gospel Book was made in the first half of the sixteenth century and is written in Ge'ez, the traditional liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Containing eleven full-page miniatures, six canon tables, and five elaborately ornamented harags, or headpieces, this manuscript represents the...
Details: This is one of twenty-six known manuscripts by the hand of Luke the Cypriot (active 1583-1625), an accomplished Greek calligrapher who worked after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (1453). He copied it in 1594 at his episcopal see of Buzau (in Wallachia, now Romania) and soon took it to...
Details: The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral is a Greek Orthodox cathedral located in Chicago, Illinois[1][2]. It was established in 1892 by a Greek immigrant community from Laconia and the Greek Islands[1]. The church was built on its present site in 1910 and faithfully models the Byzantine-Renaissance style...
Details: This is one of twenty-six known manuscripts by the hand of Luke the Cypriot (active 1583-1625), an accomplished Greek calligrapher who worked after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (1453). He copied it in 1594 at his episcopal see of Buzau (in Wallachia, now Romania). He soon took it to...
Details: The "plashchnitsa" (Greek "epitaphios") is an altar cloth that was brought out for special veneration on Good Friday, the feast day of the Crucifixion. At the center, the dead Christ is depicted on an altar-like table beneath a six-winged cherub. To the left and right,...
Details: This painted enamel pendant was probably commissioned as a baptism gift. An inscription on the back of the silver frame gives a birth date (September 9, 1768), and the date of the child's "name day," or baptism (September 28), also the date of the feasts...
Details: This large Ethiopian Gospel Book was made in the first half of the sixteenth century and is written in Ge'ez, the traditional liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Containing eleven full-page miniatures, six canon tables, and five elaborately ornamented harags, or headpieces, this manuscript represents the...
Details: This is one of twenty-six known manuscripts by the hand of Luke the Cypriot (active 1583-1625), an accomplished Greek calligrapher who worked after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (1453). He copied it in 1594 at his episcopal see of Buzau (in Wallachia, now Romania) and soon took it to...
Details: The Archangel Gabriel is a popular figure in Russian Orthodox iconography[1][2][3][4][5]. He is usually depicted wearing white or blue garments and holding a spear in his right hand[2]. In some icons, he may also be holding a mirror in his left hand[2]...
Details: The Ladder of Divine Ascent is an ascetical treatise written by John Climacus in the 6th century for monastics[1]. It explains the path to unity with God's love and how to avoid vice and practice virtue in order to obtain salvation[2]. An icon depicting the...
Details: The Ascension icon depicts Jesus being escorted back to His heavenly home, with Mary and the faithful disciples present[1]. It conveys both confusion and peace, as worldly reasoning clashes with divine order[2]. The Virgin Mary is often placed at the center of the scene in Eastern iconography,...
Details: This small icon depicts the Virgin with her hands raised in prayer, and identified by an abbreviated inscription as the Mother of God. The size and theme of the icon suggest it was used in private devotion. For its pious owner, it would have served as a constant reminder...
Details: Pope Miltiades (Greek: Μιλτιάδης, Miltiádēs)[1][2][3], also known as Melchiades the African[1], was the bishop of Rome from 311 to his death on 10 or 11 January 314[1][4][5]. He was given the right to receive back all ecclesiastical buildings and possessions which had...
Details: This scene is rarely met with as a separate icon, although it occurs as one of the subjects on smaller ones. The subject is one of the church's Twelve Festivals, which were represented on the third tier of the iconostasis (alter screen and icon stand combined), which...
Details: St. Nicholas, the 4th-century bishop of Myra (in present-day Turkey), was one of the most venerated saints in Russia. Considered almost a "national" saint, he was second only to the Mother of God as a protector and intercessor with God. The small figures in the icon'...
Details: This complex composition served a Russian household's spiritual needs throughout the year by incorporating the whole church calendar in the form of images corresponding to the major feast days. Depicted, starting at the bottom left, are the Birth of the Virgin (September 8), Presentation of the Virgin...
Details: The decoration on this page is by two or possibly three different hands. The headpiece, ornamented title, and initial letter "E" are the work of the scribe Luke the Cypriot, while the images and framing ornament in the side margin are by a professional artist(s). It...
Details: Bronze icons were a popular, inexpensive substitute for those made out of more precious metals. The Virgin is shown as an intercessor with her hands raised in prayer, turning toward Christ in the upper right corner. This portrait type of the Virgin "Hagiosoritissa" comes from an icon...
Details: This is a late example, very conservative in painting style, of a type of image that was first developed in Russia in the late 16th century. It is primarily based on the Old Testament story in which God revealed himself to Moses in a bush that burned without being...
