Alexei Lidov
Alexei Lidov graduated from the Art History Department of the Moscow State University in 1981 and defended his Ph.D. thesis there in 1989 . Lidov is the Head of Department at the Institute of World Cultures of the Moscow State University, the founder and director of the Research Centre for Eastern Christian Culture in Moscow (since 1991) and a full member (academician) of the Russian Academy of Arts (elected in 2012). Lidov has been awarded by fellowships of the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study (1994/95), the College de France in Paris (1998), the British Academy (1999), the Getty Research Institute (2001) and Princeton University (2005), as well as of some other important institutions. He was lecturing at leading universities of the USA (Princeton, Harvard, Yale), Europe (Oxford, Cambridge, Sorbonne) and Japan. In 2011 he was elected a distinguished visiting professor of the University of York. Lidov was initiator and organizer of several innovative research programs and international symposia. He is the author and editor of 27 monographs, catalogues and collections of articles, among them: The Mural Paintings of Akhtala (1991), Jerusalem in Russian Culture (Moscow 1994, New York-Athens 2005), The Eastern Christian Church. Liturgy and Art (Saint-Petersburg 1994), The Miracle-Working Icon in Byzantium and Old Rus’ (Moscow 1996), Byzantine Icons of Sinai (Moscow - Athens 1999), The Iconostasis. Origins-Evolution-Symbolism (Moscow 2000), Christian Relics in the Moscow Kremlin (Moscow 2000), Eastern Christian Relics (Moscow 2003), The Holy Face in Russian Icons (Moscow 2005), Hierotopy. The Creation of Sacred Spaces in Byzantium and Medieval Russia (Moscow 2006), Relics in Byzantium and Medieval Russia: Written Sources (2006), New Jerusalems. Hierotopy and Iconography of Sacred Spaces (Moscow 2009), Hierotopy. Comparative Studies of Sacred Spaces (2009). For his monograph ‘Hierotopy. Spatial Icons and Image-Paradigms in Byzantine Culture’ (Moscow 2009), Lidov was awarded by the Gold medal of the Russian Academy of Arts (in 2010). Among Lidov’s most recent publications: Spatial Icons. Performativity in Byzantium and Medieval Russia (Moscow 2011), The Mount Athos. Images of a Holy Land (2011), Hierotopy of Light and Fire in the Culture of the Byzantine World (2013), The Wall-Paintings of the Akhtala Monastery. History, Iconography, Masters (2014), The Life-Giving Source. Water in the Hierotopy and Iconography of the Christian World (2014), The Icons. The World of the Holy Images in Byzantium and Medieval Russia (2014). In 2014 he was awarded by the Golden Cross "For the serving to art".
Alexei Lidov used to work as a UNESCO expert for the preservation of cultural heritage. He is a member of various organizations related to the studies of Byzantine and Medieval culture, as well as to the preservation of historical monuments.
Alexei Lidov used to work as a UNESCO expert for the preservation of cultural heritage. He is a member of various organizations related to the studies of Byzantine and Medieval culture, as well as to the preservation of historical monuments.
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which a number of other artefacts, testifying to the influence of the Holy Fire, might be discussed. Yet the evidence presented here seems enough
for a preliminary conclusion: the miracle of the Holy Fire at the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem constituted a very powerful, though nowadays
practically unknown, paradigm of Christian visual culture. Very important in this sense is the ritual of the Scoppio del Carro, or “Explosion of the Cart,” staged up to the present day every Easter Sunday in the square
between the Baptistery and Cathedral.
To begin with, we shall examine a spatial icon formed in the Kievan St. Sophia Cathedral by a mosaic image of Christ Pantocrator in the main dome, which has been shown to have a matching 'reflection' on the bottom of the chalice used in this cathedral. Then we shall see how the golden smalt used by Byzantine masters worked to create an aura of glistering light in the space surrounding the mosaic icon of the Virgin.
Further on, I will argue that spacial aspects of iconicity can be understood through a notion of "chora", a mysterious platonic formative space-matter, notoriously difficult to comprehend in terms of Western rationalist thinking. Being a meeting ground of dialectical opposites, "chora" unites the ideal with the material, the abstract with the concrete, the holy with the mundane. We shall then turn to the icon of Divine Light in the Hagia Sophia church in Constantinople as an important example of such a spatial icon, defying positivist methodology.
We shall also critically examine some misconceptions about icons, such as those related to the role of 'pattern-books' and the reverse perspective. Last but not least, a more general notion of 'iconicity' and its manifestations in various artistic forms within cultures with Byzantine roots shall be discussed.
This current article will focus on the Luminous Cloud, an optical effect intentionally created in the cupola of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople as well as in the domes of many other Byzantine churches. I argue that it visibly embodied the biblical luminous cloud of glory, in the image of which the invisible and omnipotent God is manifest in the world. In the Early Christian imagery, the luminous and fiery cloud was combined with the anthropomorphic image of Christ. The idea of the luminous cloud preserved its significance in later Byzantine hierotopy and iconography, including contemporary Russian Orthodox church, sometimes without any historical memory of its performative nature and the symbolical
concept of the luminous cloud as the Kavod — Doxa — Slava
Bozhia.
icons’ played a great role in the sacred spaces of Byzantine churches and influenced several forms of artistic creativity. They appeared
in the air like visions, mediating in the transforming of a beholder
from earthly to heavenly realm. These images had a special meaning in the church space, which was conceived, according to Byzantine liturgical commentaries, as the ‘Heavenly Kingdom on Earth’. The Air with the dramaturgy of Light was a leading means in the forming of this sacred environment. The paper deals with a new hypothesis concerning the phenomenon of luminous clouds in the domes of Byzantine churches. As recent studies have convincingly demonstrated, within the space of Justinian’s Hagia Sophia, which originally did not have any figurative images, the image of God was created by the most sophisticated system of lighting, including natural light of the sun, moon and stars, reflected by the golden mosaics, marble decorations, silver furnishings and vessels, as well as by the fire burning in innumerous, sometimes moving, lamps and in thousands of candles visible through the transparent smoke of incense. I argue that theidea of the luminous cloud was significant and quite alive in the minds of the sixth century people, when Hagia Sophia of Constantinople was being created. It also preserved its significance in later phenomena of Byzantine hierotopy and iconography, including contemporary Russian Orthodox church, sometimes without any historical memory of the performative nature and the symbolical concept of the luminous cloud as the Kavod —Doxa — Slava Bozhia.
The paper is the third chapter of the new book “ Russian icons of Sinai” Moscow 2015 which deals with the first description of the unknown collection of Russian icons of Sinai. Lidov’s paper presents the description of the Sinai collection of icons as well as, for the first time, the studies of Russian scholars of Sinai icons who played a leading role in the field.
which a number of other artefacts, testifying to the influence of the Holy Fire, might be discussed. Yet the evidence presented here seems enough
for a preliminary conclusion: the miracle of the Holy Fire at the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem constituted a very powerful, though nowadays
practically unknown, paradigm of Christian visual culture. Very important in this sense is the ritual of the Scoppio del Carro, or “Explosion of the Cart,” staged up to the present day every Easter Sunday in the square
between the Baptistery and Cathedral.
To begin with, we shall examine a spatial icon formed in the Kievan St. Sophia Cathedral by a mosaic image of Christ Pantocrator in the main dome, which has been shown to have a matching 'reflection' on the bottom of the chalice used in this cathedral. Then we shall see how the golden smalt used by Byzantine masters worked to create an aura of glistering light in the space surrounding the mosaic icon of the Virgin.
Further on, I will argue that spacial aspects of iconicity can be understood through a notion of "chora", a mysterious platonic formative space-matter, notoriously difficult to comprehend in terms of Western rationalist thinking. Being a meeting ground of dialectical opposites, "chora" unites the ideal with the material, the abstract with the concrete, the holy with the mundane. We shall then turn to the icon of Divine Light in the Hagia Sophia church in Constantinople as an important example of such a spatial icon, defying positivist methodology.
We shall also critically examine some misconceptions about icons, such as those related to the role of 'pattern-books' and the reverse perspective. Last but not least, a more general notion of 'iconicity' and its manifestations in various artistic forms within cultures with Byzantine roots shall be discussed.
This current article will focus on the Luminous Cloud, an optical effect intentionally created in the cupola of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople as well as in the domes of many other Byzantine churches. I argue that it visibly embodied the biblical luminous cloud of glory, in the image of which the invisible and omnipotent God is manifest in the world. In the Early Christian imagery, the luminous and fiery cloud was combined with the anthropomorphic image of Christ. The idea of the luminous cloud preserved its significance in later Byzantine hierotopy and iconography, including contemporary Russian Orthodox church, sometimes without any historical memory of its performative nature and the symbolical
concept of the luminous cloud as the Kavod — Doxa — Slava
Bozhia.
icons’ played a great role in the sacred spaces of Byzantine churches and influenced several forms of artistic creativity. They appeared
in the air like visions, mediating in the transforming of a beholder
from earthly to heavenly realm. These images had a special meaning in the church space, which was conceived, according to Byzantine liturgical commentaries, as the ‘Heavenly Kingdom on Earth’. The Air with the dramaturgy of Light was a leading means in the forming of this sacred environment. The paper deals with a new hypothesis concerning the phenomenon of luminous clouds in the domes of Byzantine churches. As recent studies have convincingly demonstrated, within the space of Justinian’s Hagia Sophia, which originally did not have any figurative images, the image of God was created by the most sophisticated system of lighting, including natural light of the sun, moon and stars, reflected by the golden mosaics, marble decorations, silver furnishings and vessels, as well as by the fire burning in innumerous, sometimes moving, lamps and in thousands of candles visible through the transparent smoke of incense. I argue that theidea of the luminous cloud was significant and quite alive in the minds of the sixth century people, when Hagia Sophia of Constantinople was being created. It also preserved its significance in later phenomena of Byzantine hierotopy and iconography, including contemporary Russian Orthodox church, sometimes without any historical memory of the performative nature and the symbolical concept of the luminous cloud as the Kavod —Doxa — Slava Bozhia.
The paper is the third chapter of the new book “ Russian icons of Sinai” Moscow 2015 which deals with the first description of the unknown collection of Russian icons of Sinai. Lidov’s paper presents the description of the Sinai collection of icons as well as, for the first time, the studies of Russian scholars of Sinai icons who played a leading role in the field.
Lidov's detailed biography (in Russian) and his complete bibliography
The book deals with the creation of sacred spaces in Byzantium, Medieval Russia and the Eastern Christian world. It is based on ten studies of last seven years in which three new notions — Hierotopy, Spatial Icons and Image-Paradigms, renovating the methodology of art history, have been suggested and discussed by the author. The term Hierotopy stands for the entire framework, intending to fix a special stratum of historical phenomena. Hierotopic approach means that the making of sacred spaces is viewed as a special form of creativity. The term 'Spatial Icon', was conceived to describe iconic imagery existing in space beyond flat pictures or any combination of art objects. The Image-Paradigm is an instrumentum studiorum to analyze this specific category of images.
Симпозиум впервые в мировой науке посвящен «Воздуху и Небесам» как важнейшей теме христианской иеротопии и иконографии, преимущественно в византийско-древнерусской традиции. Внимание участников сосредоточено на сакрально-символических аспектах темы и на методологии историко-художественных исследований. Симпозиум является продолжением многолетней инновационной научной программы, посвященной иеротопии — изучению создания сакральных пространств как особого вида духовного и художественного творчества. С 2011 г. в рамках большой программы реализуется исследовательский проект иеротопии важнейших элементов мира — Огня, Воды, Земли и Воздуха. Пока вышли три монументальных сборника статей: «Иеротопия огня и света в культуре византийского мира» (М., 2013), «Святая Вода в иеротопии и иконографии христианского мира» (М., 2017) и «Иеротопия Святой горы в христианской культуре» (М., 2019). Симпозиум о «Небесах», рассматривающий тему Воздуха, является естественным завершением трех предшествующих проектов.
монументальной живописи на территории Армении. Росписи отличает хорошая сохранность, уникаль-ная иконография и высокое художественное качество, ставящее их в ряд лучших произведений визан-тийского и в целом всего восточнохристианского искусства.
Комплексное монографическое исследование состоит из трех глав. Первая посвящена истории со-здания и датировке росписей монастыря Плиндзаханк (Ахтала), который являлся главным духовным
и художественным центром армян-халкедонитов, исповедовавших «греко-грузинское» православие. На
основе всех сохранившихся источников восстанавливается история монастыря, специальный раздел по-священ ктитору монастыря, обосновывается датировка росписей 1205–1216 годами. Во второй части кни-ги подробно исследуется иконографическая программа, отличающаяся редкими особенностями, восхо-дящими как к византийской, так и к грузинской традиции. В третьей главе выявляются манеры восьми
мастеров, которые своим происхождением связаны с Арменией, Византией и Грузией.
Памятник рассматривается в контексте особой культуры армян-халкедонитов, которая расцвела на
территориях Северной Армении в начале XIII века, соединила три христианские традиции и обуслови-ла многие уникальные черты росписей. Книга адресована всем интересующимся историей византий-ского, армянского и грузинского искусства, а также проблематикой средневековой культуры в целом.
of the universe: Hierotopy of Light and Fire in Byzantium and Medieval Russia (Moscow 2013); The Holy Water in the Hierotopy and Iconography of the Christian World (Moscow 2017); The Hierotopy of Holy Mountains in Christian Culture ( Moscow 2019). The present project about Air finishes this series dedicated to four elements.
this phenomenon in the making of sacred spaces, mostly in the medieval tradition with a special focus on the Byzantine world. The project and symposium are the next step in a continuing research program dedicated to the making of sacred spaces as a distinct form of artistic and spiritual creativity called ‘hierotopy’. Recently, a new sub-series has appeared, dedicated to the elements of the universe: Hierotopy of Light and Fire in Byzantium and Medieval Russia (Moscow 2013); The Holy Water in the Hierotopy and Iconography of the Christian World (Moscow 2017); The Hierotopy of Holy Mountains in Christian Culture ( Moscow 2019). The present project about Air finishes this series dedicated to four elements.
Симпозиум впервые в мировой науке посвящен «Воздуху и Небесам» как важнейшей теме христианской иеротопии и иконографии, преимущественно в византийско-древнерусской традиции. Внимание участников сосредоточено на сакрально-символических аспектах темы и на методологии историко-художественных исследований. Симпозиум является продолжением многолетней инновационной научной программы, посвященной иеротопии — изучению создания сакральных пространств как особого вида духовного и художественного творчества. С 2011 г. в рамках большой программы реализуется исследовательский проект иеротопии важнейших элементов мира — Огня, Воды, Земли и Воздуха. Пока вышли три монументальных сборника статей: «Иеротопия огня и света в культуре изантийского мира» (М., 2013), «Святая Вода в иеротопии и иконографии ристианского мира» (М., 2017) и «Иеротопия Святой горы в христианской культуре» (М., 2019). Симпозиум о «Небесах», рассматривающий тему Воздуха, является естественным завершением трех предшествующих проектов.
Hierotopy is the creation of sacred spaces viewed as a special form of human creativity and also a related area of research where specific examples of such creativity are studied. This concept was first formulated some fifteen years ago by Alexei Lidov in the context of Byzantine studies and has grown into a fully developed academic field spanning the disciplines of art history, study of religion and cultural anthropology. Hierotopy accounts for the variety of ways in which versatile media work together to form and organise a sacred space as a unified whole and to communicate its spiritual message.
Authors: A. Lidov, N. Isar, R. Demchuk, B. Leal, S. Olianina, O. Osadcha, A. Simsky