Sacred Art of The Byzantines: Icons & Iconography *NEW* *Online*

The Byzantine Empire left a legacy of more than 1,000 years of territorial expansions and contractions. The Byzantines’ artistic legacy was their use of religious iconography in support of their religious, military, and political missions. This class, taught by an Orthodox Christian, will examine old and recent works of iconography and sacred paintings, as well as the events and tragedies that befell the Byzantine Empire. The class will investigate this era’s influence on other eras such as the Renaissance and the Italo-Byzantine art movement, and will also explore to what extent the wide-spread use of icons in the Eastern Orthodox Church is a legacy of the Byzantine Empire, or an expression of local culture and identity of peoples from Greece, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, Serbia, and other lands. Instructor: Anatole Sykley