general background · skills development · specialization

After Byzantium :
Living Icons and the Global Journey of a Sacred Tradition

Postgraduate Programme — Level 7

10 ECTS Credits
3 hrs / week
English Language
Open to Erasmus
None Prerequisites

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion, students will be able to:

1)

Understand the historical transformation of Byzantine icon painting after the fall of Constantinople and its continuation in the post-Byzantine world.

2)

Analyze icons not only as works of art, but as living objects embedded in liturgical practice, devotional life, and communal identity.

3)

Interpret the theological, symbolic, and aesthetic dimensions of icons within their original and evolving contexts

4)

Trace the movement of icons across regions and cultures, exploring their role in diasporic communities and their integration into global artistic and cultural networks.

5)

Critically examine the changing status of icons, from sacred objects to museum artefacts and commodities in the international art market.

6)

Engage with contemporary approaches to the study of icons, including issues of heritage, preservation, digital representation, and global accessibility.

COURSE SYLLABUS

13 Modules

Week 01 | From Byzantium to “After Byzantium”: Continuity and Transformation

An introduction to the end of Byzantium not as a rupture, but as a moment of transformation. Exploring how artistic, theological, and cultural traditions continue and evolve, shaping a living post-Byzantine world that extends far beyond its historical boundaries.

Understanding icons as active participants in liturgical space, ritual practice, and personal devotion. Examining their sensory presence, materiality, and the ways in which they mediate between the faithful and the sacred, shaping lived religious experience.

Exploring artistic production after Byzantium through workshops, itinerant painters, and interconnected networks. Tracing the circulation of styles, techniques, and iconographic models across regions, revealing a vibrant and dynamic artistic landscape.

Re-examining the theological foundations of the icon, from the debates of Iconoclasm to their enduring significance in the post-Byzantine world. Exploring how key concepts—such as presence, representation, and sanctity—are reinterpreted across time, and how the icon continues to function as a meeting point between the visible and the invisible, the material and the divine.

Following the journeys of icons across regions and cultures through trade, pilgrimage, migration, and displacement. Understanding icons as carriers of memory, identity, and continuity within diasporic communities and shifting historical contexts.

Examining the transition of icons from sacred spaces to museum environments. Addressing questions of context, interpretation, and display, as well as the transformation of meaning when a living devotional object becomes an exhibit.

Investigating the entry of icons into the international art market. Exploring issues of value, authenticity, collecting practices, and the tensions between sacred significance and commodification.

Exploring how digitization and digital platforms reshape access to and engagement with icons. Considering new forms of visibility, interpretation, and preservation in an increasingly interconnected and digital world.

Modern artistic engagements, reinterpretations, and the continuing relevance of the icon in a globalized world.

Basic usability and accessibility principles for AI-supported educational resources. Students evaluate a learning object using a SUS-inspired checklist, inclusive design criteria, and peer feedback.

Developing individual or collaborative research projects focused on the global journey of icons. Encouraging students to formulate original questions, engage critically with sources, and present their work within an interdisciplinary framework.

This concluding module brings together the central themes of the course, inviting students to reconsider the post-Byzantine icon as a dynamic and evolving phenomenon rather than a static continuation of Byzantine tradition. Revisiting key concepts such as mobility, networks, materiality, devotion, and global circulation, the module explores how icons function across shifting historical, cultural, and geographical contexts after the fall of Constantinople. Particular emphasis is placed on the notion of the “living icon” as an object that continues to generate meaning, negotiate identity, and mediate between past and present. Through critical synthesis, students are encouraged to connect earlier modules, reflect on different methodological approaches, and articulate their own understanding of post-Byzantine icons within both historical and contemporary frameworks.

Essays presentation

ASSESSMENT

Student Evaluation

30%

Participation in class discussions

40%

Research Essay

30%

Public presentation

Workload — ECTS Distribution

250 Hours Total

Lectures

22

Seminar discussions

14

Student presentations

20

Study and analysis of bibliography

40

Independent study

60

Essay writing

74

Primary source workshops

20

Course Total

250

Recommended Bibliography

Suggested bibliography:

General Studies on Post-Byzantine Art and Icons

  • Drandaki, Anastasia, ed. Heaven and Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections. Athens: Benaki Museum, 2012.
  • Chatzidakis, Manolis. Studies in Post-Byzantine Painting. London: Variorum Reprints, 1976.
  • Vokotopoulos, Panayotis L. Greek Painting after the Fall of Constantinople (1450–1830). Athens: Melissa, 1987.
  • Kalligas, Haris A. Post-Byzantine Art in Greece. Athens: National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation, 2001.
  • Cormack, Robin. Byzantine Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Theology of the Icon and Continuities after Byzantium

  • John of Damascus. Three Treatises on the Divine Images. Translated by Andrew Louth. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2003.
  • Ouspensky, Leonid. The Theology of the Icon. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1992.
  • Pelikan, Jaroslav. Imago Dei: The Byzantine Apologia for Icons. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990.
  • Pentcheva, Bissera V. The Sensual Icon: Space, Ritual, and the Senses in Byzantium. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2010.

Workshops, Painters, and Artistic Networks (15th–18th c.)

  • Chatzidakis, Manolis. Icons of Patmos: Questions of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Painting. Athens: National Bank of Greece, 1985.
  • Drandaki, Anastasia. “Greek Painters in Venice and the Mediterranean after the Fall of Constantinople.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 68 (2014): 177–205.
  • Babić, Gordana. L’atelier du peintre dans la tradition byzantine et post-byzantine. Belgrade: Serbian Academy of Sciences, 1993.
  • Vassilaki, Maria, ed. The Hand of Angelos: An Icon Painter in Venetian Crete. Athens: Benaki Museum, 2010.

Icons in Motion: Mobility, Trade, and Diaspora

  • Cutler, Anthony. “The Pathos of Distance: Byzantium in the Age of Its Diaspora.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 55 (2001): 1–24.
  • Harris, Jonathan. Greek Émigrés in the West, 1400–1520. Camberley: Porphyrogenitus, 1995.
  • Drandaki, Anastasia. “Icons in Motion: The Circulation of Greek Icons in the Eastern Mediterranean.” In Crossroads of Cultures (edited volume), 2013.
  • Cormack, Robin, and Elizabeth Jeffreys, eds. Through the Looking Glass: Byzantium through British Eyes. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000.

Devotion, Ritual, and the “Living Icon”

  • Pentcheva, Bissera V. Icons and Power: The Mother of God in Byzantium. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006.
  • Parani, Maria G. “Experiencing Miraculous Icons in Byzantium and Beyond.” In Experiencing Byzantium (edited volume), 2018.
  • Weyl Carr, Annemarie. “Icons and the Object of Pilgrimage in Middle Byzantine Constantinople.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 56 (2002): 75–92.
  • Vassilaki, Maria, ed. Images of the Mother of God: Perceptions of the Theotokos in Byzantium. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005.

From Church to Museum: Collecting and Displaying Icons

  • Cormack, Robin. “Icons in the Museum.” In Viewing the Past in the Past (edited volume).
  • Peers, Glenn. Byzantine Things in the World. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2022.
  • Kalavrezou, Ioli. “Byzantine Icons in the West.” Metropolitan Museum Journal 28 (1993): 7–38.
  • Lowden, John. Early Christian and Byzantine Art. London: Phaidon, 1997.

Icons and the Art Market, Heritage, and Ethics

  • Kaldellis, Anthony. The Byzantine Republic: People and Power in New Rome. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015.
  • Messenger, Phyllis M., ed. The Ethics of Collecting Cultural Property. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1989.
  • Brodie, Neil, et al., eds. Trade in Illicit Antiquities: The Destruction of the World’s Archaeological Heritage. Cambridge: McDonald Institute, 2001.

Digital Approaches and Contemporary Perspectives

  • Maronidis, Andreas et al. “Virtual Restoration of Byzantine Icons Using Advanced Imaging Techniques.” Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage 13, no. 2 (2020).
  • Vassallo, Valentina et al. “Tracing the Provenance of Byzantine Icons through Digital Methods.” Heritage Science 9 (2021).
  • Clini, Paolo, et al. “Digital Documentation and Analysis of Painted Surfaces in Cultural Heritage.” Applied Sciences 10, no. 12 (2020).

Key Journals for Further Research:

  • DChAE (Deltion of the Christian Archaeological Society)
  • Dumbarton Oaks Papers
  • Byzantion
  • Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies
  • Byzantinische Zeitschrift
  • Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes
  • Oxford Art Journal
  • Convivium: Exchanges and Interactions in the Arts of Medieval Europe, Byzantium, and the Mediterranean
  • Zograf
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