Byzantine architectural form between iconicity and chôra

Abstract

This chapter suggests that iconicity is important for addressing representational and design themes but cannot sufficiently explain the conceptual aspects of Byzantine religious architecture. Originally introduced by Plato, the philosophical concept of chora , as will be shown in this chapter, continually occupied Neoplatonists and Byzantine intellectuals, such as Dionysius the Areopagite, Gregory of Nazianzus, John of Damascus, and Theodore Metochites. In Byzantine art almost without exception icons are equated with religious icons, visual images that represent holy figures, sacred events, or holy objects. The iconicity of Byzantine architecture additionally raises at least two immanently critical issues. Fundamental questions on religious icons reopened more nuanced investigations of iconicity, thereby advancing the theoretical and philosophical thinking about Byzantine art and architecture. The interconnectivity of chora and hypodoche highlights their potentials and limits when related to conceptual and representational themes of Byzantine architecture.