Cultural and Artistic Transmission between Byzantium and Medieval Rus’: Architecture, Iconography, Music

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

This panel explores the artistic connections between late Byzantine and medieval Slavic Christendom. Our panel examines three art forms of Slavic Orthodoxy—iconography, architecture, and liturgical music—that Rus’ inherited from Byzantium, asking the following questions: How did Byzantine models of artistic production evolve when adapted into Slavic contexts? What role did religious and political networks play in shaping these transmissions?
Özlem Eren’s paper, titled “Architectural Exchange in the Fragmented Political Landscape of 12th century Hungary, Poland and Southwestern Rus'” examines the contribution of political and social dynamics of 12th century Galicia-Volhynia to the transmission of architectural elements from both Byzantine and Western Romanesque architecture. The church of Saint Panteleimon in Old Halych serves as the case study for the convergence of Western and Eastern influences. Justin Willson’s paper, “Competition and Doubling in a Liturgical Narrative about an Icon Painter” considers the legends told about icon painters in Byzantine and Slavic sources. It focuses on the transmission of the tale of Gusar and Khinar and establishes the liturgical context in which the tale was heard. Anastasia Shmytova’s paper, titled “Khabuvy, anenaiki: singing nonsense in 12th–17th century Greek and Russian Orthodox chant”, is about the tradition of interpolating nonsense syllables in liturgical hymns. It examines the reception of this Byzantine tradition in the Slavic realm, where the syllables develop the peculiar function of representing the language of angels and demons, as demonstrated on the example of the Annunciation stichera, Blagovestvuyet Gavriil [Gabriel Announceth].

Sub Unit

• Religion, Philosophy

Chair

• Justin Willson, Yale U

Papers

• Khabuvy, Anenaiki: Singing Nonsense in 12th–17th Century Greek and Russian Orthodox Chant - Anastasia Shmytova, Princeton U

• Architectural Exchange in the Fragmented Political Landscape of 12th-Century Hungary, Poland and Southwestern Rus' - Ozlem Eren, U of Wisconsin-Madison

• Competition and Doubling in a Liturgical Narrative about an Icon Painter - Justin Willson, Yale U

Discussant

• David Thomas Salkowski, U of North Florida