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Lateral Naves in the Mediterranean Space and Their Functions in Late MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF ART HISTORY Bc. Klára Doležalová Lateral Naves in the Mediterranean Space and Their Functions in Late Antiquity The Case Studies of the Museum Basilica in Philippi & the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna Master’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: doc. Ivan Foletti, MA, Docteur ès Lettres 2019 I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this master thesis and that I have not used any sources other than those listed in the bibliography and identified as references. _________________________ At this point, I would like to express my sincere and heartful gratitude to those who helped on my way towards accomplishing this task. First and foremost, I would like to thank to my supervisor, Ivan Foletti, for all his precious comments and remarks and the ongoing support throughout the whole process. I also owe many thanks to the head of the Department of the History of Art in Brno, Radka Miltová, for her helpfulness, tolerance and notably for her patience, and to Elisabetta Scirocco and the whole department of Bibliotheca Hertziana for the great experience and the opportunity to spend several weeks in the stimulating atmosphere of the institute. Special thanks go also to Adrien Palladino for his kindness, support and critical revisions of the text; all remaining errors are mine. Last but not least, I would like to thank to my family and friends, particularly to Katarína, Klára, Kateřina and Anna, for all the words of comfort and encouragement. Thank you. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 5 STATE OF RESEARCH ....................................................................... 7 A. Solely Physical Barriers ......................................................... 8 B. Visual Barriers ................................................................. 12 C. Other Types of Separation .................................................. 15 Final Observations .................................................................... 16 CASE STUDY A: THE BASILICA AT THE MUSEUM IN PHILIPPI ....................... 21 Remarks on the Site-Specific Situation ........................................... 22 The Separated Aisles of the Museum Basilica .................................... 28 Partial Conclusion .................................................................... 33 CASE STUDY B: THE BASILICA OF SANT’APOLLINARE NUOVO IN RAVENNA .... 35 Remarks on the Site-Specific Situation ........................................... 35 Architecture and Internal Arrangements ...................................... 36 The Christological Cycle of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo ........................... 42 Mystagogical Catechesis and Bishop as the “Interpreter” ................... 45 The Side Aisles of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo Reconsidered ................... 49 Partial Conclusion .................................................................... 51 CONCLUSION ............................................................................. 53 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................ 55 Abbreviations .......................................................................... 55 Primary Sources Editions ........................................................... 55 Secondary Sources .................................................................... 56 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ................................................................. 71 INTRODUCTION The Late Antique basilica can be considered as an architectural “topos”, which penetrated into all diverse areas of the Mediterranean space, and as an architectural solution which dominated in the construction of cultic buildings across the Christian world. Being an architectural, liturgical, and public space at the same time, it has been vastly explored by the different fields of study, from art history to liturgical studies. Within the fields of archaeology and liturgical studies, crossing the discipline of art history, the inner space of churches also became a subject of a scholarly interest. Within this frame, of course, the apse and presbytery as the most holy areas and presumably the focal points of the liturgical practice were often given the highest consideration. Lateral naves, at least based on the written sources of the discussed period, bore no particular function in the sacred space, and yet, we find several types of their separation from the main nave, which segmented the interior and constructed different zones of accessibility and visibility. As a consequence, these might have been also reflected in the social stratification of the church space. The research on the sociological aspect of the architectural and liturgical planning of the Late Antique and early medieval churches has been extensively taken into consideration only recently. Ute Verstegen refers in this regard to the concept of Raumsoziologie1. In a simplified way, this concept wishes to explore how humans and space interact, and how the latter can be shaped by the social and religious experience of the liturgy and its practical needs. From this point of view, the interactions between spaces, decorations and communities are absolutely relevant and fundamental for the proper reconstruction of the liturgical space. Moreover, defining the potential observer and occasion might also help to resolve some of the interpretational questions of the internal decorations, when preserved. In this sense, the question of the spatial divisions is calling for an “interdisciplinary” methodology, in which archaeology, art history, social studies and liturgy are intertwined. In this context, even the side aisles, and especially the various means of their separation, are worth a deeper examination. 1 Consider seeing VERSTEGEN 2009; YASIN 2009, sp. pp. 26–45; CZOCK 2012, sp. pp. 27–86; CASEAU 2013, pp. 59–77; DAY et al. 2016. 5 The title of this thesis could imply an attempt for deriving general conclusions on this topic, which would be possible to apply for the Mediterranean space during Late Antique period. This is, however, not the case. As will be demonstrated especially throughout the first chapter of this thesis, which tries to reflect on the specific use of lateral naves in the existing scientific literature, the ecclesiastical, liturgical, and architectural diversity across the Mediterranean space, along with specific archaeological situations and peculiarities of a local character allow to analyze the function of lateral naves only in form of case studies. Following this assertion, two examples of Late Antique churches are subsequently discussed in detail. The first of them is the Basilica at the Museum in the ancient city of Philippi, built and remodeled during the first half of the sixth century and now surviving only in ruins, which offers a particular archaeological situation and enough tangible material which supposes the northern aisle being separated from the rest of the church by a secondary-built barrier. In all likelihood, this barrier had been endowed with curtain sets which enabled one of the sides to be screened off during certain occasions. As the second case study was chosen the basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, constructed similarly at the beginning of the sixth century, although in completely different circumstances. In this case, the basilica itself presents no archaeological traces of the separation, but the main indicator for a specific function of the lateral naves lies in its rich mosaic decoration of the clerestory walls. The most upper parts which represent twenty-six scenes of a Christological cycle, are fully visible and intelligible, as will be further argued, only for the viewers standing in lateral naves2. Both case studies thus present different starting points for the research and presume slightly different approach to the available material. Before proceeding, one brief, although important notice must be made. After concisely summarizing and specifying what this thesis aims to be, it feels necessary to emphasize what it is not. This is in no way an archaeological guide for the individual sites discussed below. The archaeological reports are used as important sources of information but with little effort to reinterpret or question their content ex situ. 2 The church of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo was already the topic of my bachelor thesis, cf. DOLEŽALOVÁ 2017. However, the case study must be considered and understood as complementary, since it discusses different aspects of the topic. While the bachelor thesis was mainly searching for the interpretation of the mosaic cycle, this case study aims to reconstruct its liturgical and social reality. As such, it represents a further step in my research. 6 STATE OF RESEARCH While considering the current state of research on the various functions of the side aisles within the Late Antique basilicas, we are naturally facing several difficulties. In most cases of the general overviews of Early Christian architecture, no specific attention was paid to the side aisles. Therefore, it must be emphasized at the very beginning that no state of research actually exists. Together with the nave, side aisles were usually restricted to the use of lay members of the Christian community. However, in the words of the authors, they were also spatially separated from the nave by column arcades. As was hinted in the introduction, it is the various types of internal structuring and means of separation, which leads us to question
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