Byzantine art spans 1,000 years. It begins from the 4th century a. D. And all the way into the 15th century a. D. It is a very significant period to the development of western art. It affects substantially the art producti of the periods ofestern medieval art, for example, the carolingian, the romanesque, goth anso the early renaissance periods. Unfortunately, these very important thousand years of Artistic Development is almost entirely omitted from the telelesson or from the telecourse art of the western world for this reason, i have brought you here to the holy inity church. We are very fortunate here in San Francisco to have such a lovely monument which reflects the byzantine art tradition. The decorative program which you will see, the lovely images that you will see in this church, belonged to the middle byzantine phase. I need to clarify, the byzantine period is divided into three periods the early, middle and the later phase. And its the mide phase lasting from abo the 10th century all the way up and into the 12th century a. D. , the style of which is reflected in the interior and the decorative program of the church. I, maria cheremeteff, from city college of San Francisco art deptment, welcome you here to this church. And i would like to invite you to a tour to step with me from this narthex, which is the entrance to the church, d then walk with me through the nave and then up and toward thsatuary barrier which is the icon ormage screen dividing the sanctuary where the ritual is performed from the nave where the congregation meets. And so would you follow me then on our tour. [music] to give a better history of this church, this magnificent structure, i have asked father anthony to give us the historical background of its construction and the design of the decorative program of the interior. Maria, welcome to our church on brotherhood way. Thank you. The Greek Orthodox church of holy trinity. And i understand that you want to know some things about our church. Yes, i do. Students come to me and ask, following their programs that theyre watching on television for telecourse, what happens to art following the roman empire and they mean the fifth century a. D. . Isnt there any art for the next 500 or 400 years . Does art simply pick up in the year 1000 with western romanesque architecture . And, of course, i say, definitely not. There is such a wonderful era called byzantine art which lasted some 1,000 years. And this is the reason why we came here. So were here. Well, first of all, the church is a circular church in design. Typically, this is not an orthodox architectural design. There is a church at thessalonica, greece, which is circular, goes back at least 1,500 years. Most Orthodox Church is a rectangular or crystal formed with a dome or domes on top. But we do have a church which fits into the niche of this landscape. This is organic architecture. We took this area of the environment and we finished the church into this area. And this is as if the church comes out of the ground, as if its growing here as part of nature. And we have this church circular in order to bring people closer to the altar. A rectangular church would bring them farther from the altar. And what we have here is a church which was constructed in two years. Reid tarix were the architectural firm. Robert alder was the designer. And we started november 1961 and we finished in october 1963. We have 12 pillars in the church. Believe it or not, they were poured six days like the six days of creation with a slick form method of construction. Twentyfour hours a day, we had the pouring of cement, of concrete. Then we have the tilted panels which were poured on the ground, lifted by a crane and fitted to the spaces, fitted to the walls and weld it to the walls. Now we go up to the vaults which are below the dome. Each one of those vaults weighs 32 tons. Each one was poured on the ground, lifted by a crane and fitted and seated on top of the pillar. Then we have a dome, of course. So what we have here is a church which is contemporary in its design but it is traditional in its features. Ith has the dome, it has height. It has windows which have colors which are toned down. You dont have rich rubies, colors which are western. We have the narthex where people enter the church. We have the nave where people sit, stand or kneel in the church. We have the sanctuary where the priest conducts liturgy, which is inside. And between the sanctuary and the nave, we have the altar screen. Lets talk about byzantine art for a moment. Our artist is robert andrews. Hes americanamerican born. He lives in massachusetts. He taught art for 36 years. He has a family of his own. And he said, im going to try to capture the style of 11th, 12th century byzantine art through the eyes of a 20thcentury man. And this is what we see here. This is the altar screen. It has 12 large icons and 12 small icons. We have 12 pillars. We have 12 windows. We have 12 tilted panels. Twelve is a significant number in this church. Our lord had 12 apostles. If you look beneath the dome, youll see 12 apostles. Here we have the apostles. This church is named holy trinity so we have the depiction of pentecost because we celebrate holy trinity feast day, the day after pentecost. But now you might be interested in knowing what this is. This is byzantine. This is smalti, baked glass. And this is a section of a complete design. What occurs, in effect, is the artist sends a sketch of each icon to italy. And then the artisans there, who are specialists really, take each section. Its about this large. As you notice this paper underneath here. It has the design on it. Well, it has the design. Would you see it on the other side . Thats correct. So what the artist will do, he will take some grout. This was a plaster wall. You take the grout and grout the whole wall. Then he will take some grout and hell butter this. They call it buttering, a very light grout of this. And hell take this piece, and he has to make sure its centered because if he doesnt put it in the right place, the whole icon will be off center. So now we see the mosaic being brought to the wall which has been grouted ahead of time. And lets assume that this is the first piece of a mosaic depiction. The artist will now put the mosaic up like this. Make sure that its adhered to the grout on the wall. Then take the next piece and put it here, and make sure that its butted up against this piece. And when all this has been done this way, and you see all this with paper, then the artist moists this with water and then he peels this paper off and you see the icon as it really is on this side. The only difference between this side and this side is that all the green you see here is gold viewed from this side. All the other colors are true on each side, on both sides. Whatever you see here is on the other side except the green. Thats gold on the other side. And so we have what we call byzantine art. Now if you take your fingernail and youve realized that each piece of this art is about as large as your fingernail, you can imagine how many pieces are on this mosaic. And you then imagine how many pieces are on the apse mosaic. If you go from the floor to the top of the apse, we have 52 feet. So byzanti art per se, in tempera or oil or mosaic, constitutes the kind of art which does not emphasize the beauty of the body, emphasize the beauty of the spirit. You will never see a very sweet, romantic madonna in the Orthodox Church, a mary. You see a mary who ponders the mystery of ever becoming the mother of jesus. You will see the apostles, not realistic in the sense that we see them today. If you look at their fingers, for example, it all seemed to be necessarily symmetrical. The spirit of the icon, is what counts, because in the Orthodox Church each icon is a window which leads us into the other world. All these people lived on earth. Theyve left this earth, now theyre with us. And we pray to them, and we ask them to pray for us. So this is what we call byzantine art. Its twodimensional in a sense. You have length, you have width. Who giveswho provides the third dimension . The believer. The believer provides the depth to the icon. In effect then what we try to capture here in brotherhood way is a church which lifts you toward heaven, out into space, always elevating your mind with contemporary design and byzantine traditional byzantine features and art which is really traditional. Youll always see a depiction of christ because we want christ to be emphasized at all times, that he is the center of our life. [music] all who view this tape will come to a better appreciation of byzantine art, byzantine or orthodox architecture even though it might be contemporary, it has byzantine features and come to a deeper understanding of what means to know that art and architecture are not just things that came from the west. Much of what we have today came from the east. Its very nice to see you. Well, thank you very much for graciously allowing us to experience this wonderful building. Indeed, a wonderful building. Its a pleasure. And god bless all of you. Thank you. And i wish you the very best. Thank you. [music] at this time, id like to continue the tour through this wonderful building. But before i do that, i would like to give you a historical backgrod which i think is essential for the understanding of byzantine art. We need to understand byzantine history. The roman in fact, the byzantines consider themselves to be the descendants of the romans or the roman empire. So, essentially, the byzantine empire which lasted from around the 4th century all the way and into the 15th century was really a continuation of the great roman empire. Therefore, they preserved there is a definite continuity. And because there is a continuity with past tradition, they preserved the administrative structure, the law, the judicial system of the classical romans. Now, the byzantine period is divided into three essential phases. The phases are interrupted by two other phases, but let me take you back and start with the early medieval early medieval byzantine period. The early period begins with the 4th century. Some even argue that, perhaps, it should start in the 6th century, but lets, for this particular purpose, say and assert that it began in the 4th century with the move of the capital city of rome from italy to constantinople or presentday istanbul, turkey. Constantine the great, when he moved or made this essential decision, then focused the entire roman empire because he perceived himself to be, and was in fact, in reality, a roman emperor. He then moved and made an entire new focus for the empire which was eastbound, and he made the essential move because he realized and recognized that the trading grounds were actually directed towards the east rather than towards the west. In addition to that, there was a great deal of unrest in the northern portions of Continental Europe at that time because the migratory tribes were unsettled. The migratory tribes were on the move and the people were actually on the move in their attempt to find a place for permanent settlement. So the early phase then begins with this important move to a new capital in constantinople, and it takes and it lasts all the way and into the early phase of 8th century a. D. The 8th century is comparable in fact, the end of the early period is parallel to the carolingian development in the west, and, in fact, is very instrumental in the development of the carolingian culture because byzantine art fed right into it. And i think that we need to keep that in mind. Now, following the early byzantine period, there is an intermediate phase. And this intermediate phase is called the iconoclastic period. This is the period where representational imagery was not allowed, in fact, banned from religious interiors, which certainly is not the case in this particular building nor in any buildings created in the byzantine tradition, following the iconoclastic period. Now, the iconoclastic period lasts for about 120 years until, finally, in the early or about the mid, actually, 843 to be exact, by the mid9th century, you have once again a reascension of religious art or figurative representation in religious art which becomes a very important form of art. In fact, the bestpreserved byzantine works of art have been preserved in religious structures. Now, following the iconoclastic phase, we enter the middle byzantine period. In this middle byztine period, you have, really it lasts, in fact, and starts from the middle 9th century till about the early 13th century. And during this period, it is, in fact, a very important critical period for the development of byzantine art and, especially, their religious art because it is at during this particular phase that they developed a classical system of the decorative program for the interior of the buildings. In addition to that, they also developed a standardized form of architecture. During the early phase, they tended to experiment a bit more, but during the middle byzantine period, they reaffirmed the acceptance of an architectural form which was centralized. And here, in this church, we have a centralized building, it is capped by a huge dome, and in this middle byzantine period, that is what they preferred, a centralized building which could be either octagonal, it could be either a square with an inscribed cross within it, but it would be domed or it would have elaborate vaulting systems. The reason for that was probably partially due to the type of decorative program which they designed during this particular period. The decorative program worked with the type of architecture that they created, the centralized type of architecture. We need to keep this in mind when i will take you on a tour and well go to thewell stand directly underneath the dome and look at the wonderful mosaics. There are about 65 individual works in this particular church. Now, we need to the latter phase following this middle byzantine period, we enter another intermediate phase, and this intermediate phase is called the latin occupation. And in the 13th century, you have the genoese and the venetians, the italians, they arrive and take over. And the byzantine empire shrinks to a single city called nicaea. Now, following the shrinking of the empire, the general territory and the original capital city of constantinople is in the hands of the west, of the italians or the genoese, the venetians. And so you have the phase, and for very appropriately, this phase is called the latin occupation, lasts about 60 years. And theres a tremendous exchange of cultural ideas and art forms. In fact, the great city in italy, venice, was very much inspired and very much influenced by the byzantine this particular phase because art is traveled to the adriatic coast in italy, byzantine artists, and brought art with them. And so the byzantine art became very popular. Th during the middle 13th century, because the second intermediate phase lasts from 12041261, so from 12611453, you have the last phase of the byzantine empire often referred to as the palaeologan period. But the palaeologan period the palaeologan term refers to a dynasty and it refers to a very specific later phase of the late period. Now, during the termination or the fall of the byzantine empire, and, in fact, the byzantines consider themselves to be a roman empire, there is that continuity. The byzantine empire collapses in 1453 to the Ottoman Turks. And so the Ottoman Turks then established themselves in the capital city, renamed it istanbul, and it is known as such till this present day. Now, it is important to understand that the decorative scheme that we see here in this particular church does reflect the very important and essential and fundamental principles which were established during this middle classical, middle byzantine phase, classical the classical decorative phase, because each image that you see in this particular church is not to be seen as an isolated phenomenon, as an isolated painting, but we need to keep in mind three very essential principles. The first of which is that the image or images that you see, in this cathedral you have 65, relate to one another. They must establish a relationship with one another. They must also establish a relationship with the beholder. And that is one of the most, i would say, essential principles that we would need to deal with. And thirdly, that the architectural structure must also establish a relationship with the decorative program, and they Work Together to create a synthesis and to create a total communication. But the main emphasis in the Orthodox Church would be the Greek Orthodox church or any Orthodox Church would be the beholder. That would affect the style. We will now go down to the steps and stand directly underneath the dome where i will begin to explain the very essential and important principles that i have just enumerated for you. [music] unlike western art, byzantine art reveals the theology of the church and also the ritual or the liturgy of the church. In the western tradition, there is a stronger focus on common and individual piety in their representations. Some of the most, or one of the most important elements that we need to keep in mind is that the byzantine decorative program or the byzantine individual images need to be very visible to and very clearly visible to the beholder because they address each individual separately and individually. They are not relegated, these images, to the outside as they are in a gothic cathedral. They are not placed so in such invisible spots in special niches or so very high up that they were totally indiscernible to the viewer. So visibility is very important in byzantine decorative program. There is a concept that id like to introduce right now. Its called the microcosm of a macrocosm. When you enter a byzantine church, it is, commonly or ordinarily, a centralized structure. It is centralized in that it has either a circular floor plan or it could have a square floor plan. But what centralizes the space is the dome as you have the dome in this interior. The microcosm of a macrocosm concept addresses the Church Interior as a microscopic version of the total cosmos, of a total universe. Therefore, the uppermost section of the architecture is the dome and, therefore, it represents the heavenly realm. This is the place where you will find god, christ. Then descending down towards the lower levels of the interior, you descend down toward to the vaults or the vaulted areas, just underneath the dome. These are the places where, ordinarily, in a typical byzantine church dating to middle byzantine church, dating to the 11th or 12th century, you would find the representations, for example, of the life cycle of christ. In this church, for example, the life cycle has been relegated to a lower level, so there is ait deviates from a standard classical system in this particular area of placement. However, in the classical system, you will find the life cycle of christ which can also be called the calendar or the liturgical calendar of the church to the uppermost vaulted areas. In these areas, in the vaulted areas, the background will not necessarily be gold. It may but not necessarily so. And the artist is allowed to introduce architectural features and landscape features because you are addressing the earthly cycle or the earthly life of christ. In the dome, for example, the background is pure gold. And gold, in fact, is to be understood as signifying eternity or the heavenly realm. Then descending down towards the lower portions of the wall, in the very lowest levels, you will find individual representations of saints. Now, as ive already mentioned, in this church, you do not have individual representations of saints on the low level but instead you have the life cycle of christ. Now, the architecture and there are three principles, which i have already addressed but id like to discuss them a little further. In a byzantine church, which demands clarity, immediate visibility of each image so that the beholder may see it and understand its significance, architecture plays a very important part. Each architectural element, each architectural unit, id say, or section of the interior is very specifically designated to hold certain types of images. And the architectural sections are chosen very carefully. Theyre chosen so that they can best display the image and provide the visibility necessary for the viewer. Now i had mentioned three principles the relationship of the image to the architecture; the relationship of the image to the beholder, which is one of the most important, one of the most significant aspects; and the third, the relationship of each image to each other. Now, in order to establish a relationship with the beholder, an imagethe iconography or the treatment of the subject matter there are very specific rules that the artist must follow. The images must be represented frontally, as, for example, i am standing and facing you right now. I am not turned in a threequarter view nor do i have my back to you nor am i turned in complete profile but i am frontal and im facing you. This is very important because with this frontality, the image establishes a communication with the beholder. Secondly, it is important when you are representing images which suggest or are placed within an area which suggests the heavenly realm, that they should be placed within or with a background in gold because gold signifies or is a symbol, really, which lets you know that you are in the heavenly area, that you are at infinity. In addition to that, when artists introduce architectural elements, these architectural elements are not placed with or through the use of linear perspective, the perspective which was invented during the italian renaissance period in the west whereby you have a vanishing point and all of the orthogonal lines converge towards the vanishing point in the picture, in the plane or the canvas or the wall where the picture is painted. On the contrary, in a byzantine painting