Rethinking the Greek School of Byzantine Architecture, lecture by Robert G. Ousterhout (University of Pennsylvania), American School of Classical Studies at Athens and Zoom, June 10, 2022, 7:00 pm (Greece EET)

The Middle Byzantine architectural resurgence in Attica and the Peloponnese corresponds to the period of prosperity following the Byzantine defeat of the Arabs in 961, and the subsequent military interventions in the Balkans by Basil II, who celebrated a triumph in Athens in 1018. Hundreds of churches survive across the region – more than two dozen in Athens alone – many of them small and domed and distinctive in their architectural style. Gabriel Millet offered an important assessment of their stylistic features and construction techniques in his dissertation, L’école grecque dans l’architecture byzantine, published in 1916, situating them in contrast to those of Constantinople. The talk will examine several characteristic aspects of Helladic architecture and ask if we might view these within a broader geographical perspective, as participants in the “global" Middle Ages. 

Robert G. Ousterhout is Professor Emeritus in the History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania.

Advance registration required.