engleski

Byzantium and Istria: Some Aspects of Byzantine Presence in Istria

The main topic of this paper deals with the influnces and changes which occured after 540 i.e. after the fall of Ravenna and insertion of Istria in the Byzantine imperial system. General survey of the development of art of the Istrian peninsula in Justinianic and Post-Justinianic times is not complete, however, for most of the patrimony has not been preserved or is fragmented. Our knowledge enable us to conclude that Istrian group of monuments is encompassed in the general course of the artistic development in the whole Adriatic area. We base our interest mostly on the important monuments of the period situated in the coastal urban centers such as Eufrasius' basilica in Poreč or the church of Maria Formosa in Pula, its architecture, sculpture and decoration, its high quality of production and, especially its iconographic program which reveals the introduction of Byzantine artistic vocabulary in the six-century art in Istria. The Byzantine canon, as the basic aesthetic conception connected with religious dogma, liturgy and iconographic topography, is present in sculpture and mosaics. There are also polisemantically structured themes as well as common rules of early Byzantine representation, geometry and apstraction. The Post-Justinianic period from the late 6th to the mid 8th century reveals characteristics common to the Mediterranean area as a result of a specific historical situation not in favour of artistic development. Most of the monuments rest their visual vocabulary on the former period in the conscious choice of the motifs and the priniciples of representation. Stylistic features will changed by the end of the 8th century under the influence of new political changes and artistic influneces. We must perceive Byzantine presence in Istria through the intense support of spread and development of Christianity and Christian arts, through providing material basis for intense building and decorating the churches, providing the political and social frame, through opening up the peninsula and connecting it to the leading imperial centers of the period, as well as keeping the tradition alive in all aspects of life within the Late Antiquity.

Byzantium; Istria; influences; early Christianity; iconography; art; Virgin; cult

nije evidentirano