Review of: Nicholas N. patricios. Sacred Architecture of Byzantium. Art, Liturgy and Symbolism in Early Christian Churches. London; New York: I. B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2014. 446 p. ISBN 978-1-78076-291-3

Abstract

The book by Nicholas N. Patrikios ("Sacred Architecture of Byzantium: Art, Liturgy and Symbolism in Early Christian Churches") is a generalizing work on Byzantine architecture from the era of Constantine to the fall of Constantinople. Its importance lies not only in the fact that the author has worked through a huge array of material - 370 monuments, dividing them into seven types (p. 48) and tracing the evolution of each of them in general and in detail, but also in the fact that the author takes into account the relationship between the architectural typology and the content of the building, demonstrating how the features of the liturgy in different historical periods correlate with the architectural evolution, as well as with the figurative content of the church space. This distinctive the feature of the work gives it the necessary completeness. For Patrikios architecture, liturgy and sacred art of constitutes a single whole. To take into account all the components of the whole, the author divides the narrative into the following chapters: church and state; sacred architecture; magnificent churches; spiritual art; liturgy and Eucharist; symbolism in architecture and art.