The Historical Review/La Revue Historique

Vol. 15, 2018

Review of: Stamatios T. Chondrogiannis, in the World. Artistic, Cultural and Ideological Legacy from the 19th to the 21st Century

Albani Jenny Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports https://doi.org/10.12681/hr.20453

Copyright © 2019 Jenny Albani

To cite this article:

Albani, J. (2019). Review of: Stamatios T. Chondrogiannis, Byzantium in the World. Artistic, Cultural and Ideological Legacy from the 19th to the 21st Century. The Historical Review/La Revue Historique, 15, 305-309. doi:https://doi.org/10.12681/hr.20453

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Stamatios T. Chondrogiannis, Byzantium in the World: Artistic, Cultural and Ideological Legacy from the 19th to the 21st Century, : Centre for Byzantine Research, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 2017, 351 pages, 375 illustrations.

The present study by Stamatios Chon- , being by virtue of its language drogiannis, one of the most vibrant, crea- and literature “the first among equal tive forces in the Archaeological Service heirs to Byzantium” (p. 309). Finally, the of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and volume closes with an afterword, a list of Sports and who has dedicated more than 70 worldwide temporary exhibitions on 30 years of his life to the study, manage- Byzantium from 1859 to 2016, lists of ment and promotion of Byzantine cul- photographic credits and a bibliography, tural heritage, is loosely based on his three indexes (places, terms and names) doctoral thesis, presented in 2014 at the and a summary in Greek. Ionian University in . The book is In the first introductory chapter, “By- prefaced by Athanasios Semoglou, Pro- zantium from the Fall of fessor of Byzantine Archaeology and Art, to the 19th Century”, the author under- and Aristotelis Mentzos, Professor of lines the continuous interest – be it a posi- Byzantine Archaeology, of the Aristotle tive or negative – of Western Europeans University of Thessaloniki, and also in- in Byzantium, since the mid-fifteenth cen- cludes a foreword by the author. It offers, tury, and Byzantium’s impact on Europe- in five richly illustrated chapters, a global an humanism and the Renaissance. After and comprehensive scholarly approach examining the devaluation of Byzantium of the reception and perception of the in the eighteenth century due to the En- memory of the (330– lightenment, Chondrogiannis explores 1453) and of its tangible and intangible its re-evaluation within the redefinition heritage, since the mid-fifteenth century, of the Middle Ages during the nineteenth in Europe and the US. Special empha- century under Romanticism. The last sec- sis is placed on these issues in modern tion of this chapter is dedicated to the

The Historical Review / La Revue Historique Section of Neohellenic Research / Institute of Historical Research Volume XV (2018)

http://epublishing.ekt.gr | e-Publisher: EKT | Downloaded at 21/02/2020 07:42:00 | 306 Jenny P. Albani efforts to systematise the protection and first journal of Byzantine studies, and the study of antiquities in the modern Greek foundation of the Russian Archaeological state, in the age of Governor Ioannis Ka- Institute of Constantinople (1895). Along podistrias and of King Otto, stressing the with the scientific approach to Byzantium, fact that Byzantium remained constantly historical novels presented an imaginary in the shadow of classical antiquity, with Byzantine world, either full of splendour all its negative consequences for Byzan- and intrigue or extremely religious. tine and post-Byzantine monuments. In the following sections of this In the next chapter, “The Revival of chapter, Chondrogiannis examines new Byzantium in Europe from the Second developments and attitudes to Byzantium Half of the 19th Century”, Chondrogiannis in Greece in the late nineteenth and early discusses the process by which Byzantine twentieth centuries, linked to its theoretical history was included as an organic and ideological redefinition as an organic “middle” chapter in Greek history, in the part of the national history: the founding second half of the nineteenth century, and activities of two scientific bodies, to support the national narrative of the the Christian Archaeological Society and uninterrupted continuity of the Greek the Historical and Ethnological Society, nation. He then turns to Western Europe engaged in the study and preservation of to highlight its new vivid interest in the Byzantine past, the earliest legislative medieval art and architectural styles framework (decrees of 1897 and 1902, the – Romanesque, Gothic and Byzantine “archaeological” laws of 1834 and 1899) – inspired by Romanticism, and their for the protection of Byzantine cultural reproduction in new versions, variants heritage, the establishment of a state Ephor and syntheses. The survey of the spread of of Christian and Medieval Antiquities the neo-Byzantine style and its ideological (1908), the foundation of the first chair background by means of numerous of Byzantine Archaeology and Art at the characteristic examples of architecture and University of (1912), and the initial wall decoration in mosaic and fresco, in restorations of Byzantine monuments. the German kingdoms, Austro-Hungary, Special mention is made of the founding Britain and Ireland, France, Russia and of the Byzantine and Christian Museum the Balkan countries (including Greece), in Athens (1914) and its first exhibition masterly documented by photographs, (1924), arranged in five galleries on the leaves the reader in no doubt as to ground floor of the Athens Academy, the Byzantium’s revival in nineteenth-century permanent home of this museum – the culture at an international level. mansion of the Frenchwoman Sophie de This chapter also refers to the key Marbois-Lebrun, Duchess of Plaisance, events that marked the beginnings of widely known as Villa Ilissia – and of its scholarly recognition and research on permanent exhibition there, inaugurated Byzantium: the establishment of the on 17 December 1930. first university chairs for Byzantine The third chapter “Byzantium within Studies, one in Munich (1892) and the International Context of the 20th another in Paris (1899), the appearance Century”, focuses on the reception of of Byzantinische Zeitschrift (1892), the Byzantium mainly in the first half of

http://epublishing.ekt.gr | e-Publisher: EKT | Downloaded at 21/02/2020 07:42:00 | Stamatios T. Chondrogiannis, Byzantium in the World 307 the twentieth century. Its first section War II, American interest in Byzantium discusses the first few exhibitions of declined, confined merely to university organised from 1859 to and academic circles due to the Byzantine 1940. Tsarist Russia was the first country connections with the Slavic nations that in the world to organise exhibitions on formed the Eastern Bloc. The next two Byzantine art and culture (1859 and sections deal with the institution of the 1861) and Chondrogiannis interprets International Congress of Byzantine this fact on the basis of the close Russian Studies in 1924 and the attitude of relationship to Byzantium since the tenth interwar Greece to Byzantium, with an century and claim of succession to this emphasis on the state ideology, legislation glorious Christian empire after its fall and official management of Byzantium, to the Ottomans. These two nineteenth- the “return to one’s roots” spiritual and century Russian shows were followed by artistic movement and the Generation three exhibitions in France (1900, 1901 of the Thirties, as well as Byzantine and 1931), given that it dynamically influences on secular and, notably, promoted Byzantine studies, and two in religious architecture and art. (1904 and 1911), a country with a In the next chapter, “The Reception share in Byzantine cultural heritage. The of Byzantium after the Second World next section is dedicated to the North War”, Chondrogiannis notes that the American encounter with Byzantium in intensive early twentieth-century inter- the late nineteenth century. Although est in Byzantine aesthetics declined in the New World had no historical the initial post-war decades as a result of relationship to Byzantium, its “discovery” the new social and geopolitical dynamics. in the US led to an extensive spread of Byzantine Studies remained, however, a neo-Byzantine style in architecture and vibrant scholarly branch of the humani- decoration, the organisation of two major ties that brought once again Byzantium exhibitions on Byzantine civilisation to the fore in the last quarter of the centu- (1937 and 1947), an intensive interest ry. Since 1985, UNESCO has added nu- in purchasing Byzantine artefacts for merous Byzantine monuments and sites museums and private collections, the in many countries to its World Cultural formal establishment of Byzantine Studies Heritage list. The two following sections in universities, the foundation of the present the Greek administrative system Byzantine Institute of America, whose for the protection and management of most notable activity was the uncovering Byzantine monuments and sites as well and restoration of the Byzantine mosaics as the 28 Byzantine museums and collec- of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, and a tions in Greece. number of archaeological excavations on The last 70 years have seen the Byzantine sites. These developments were organisation, in various European and related, according to Chondrogiannis, American cities, of numerous exhibitions with America’s subsequent progression on Byzantium, which accentuated its from a “provincial country” to a major major political role as a multi-national international power and its relevant Christian empire in the Greco-Roman ideology and strategies. After World East and its crucial cultural contribution

http://epublishing.ekt.gr | e-Publisher: EKT | Downloaded at 21/02/2020 07:42:00 | 308 Jenny P. Albani to the formation of European identity. nineteenth centuries,1 has a special cultural In the last sections of this chapter, identity, with many Western features. Chondrogiannis provides us with Since Corfu is the only Ionian island a selective detailed catalogue of 70 which did not experience destruction in exhibitions on Byzantium based on the the earthquakes of 1953, many Byzantine study of their catalogues, especially the monuments, a number of which have introductions, given that they usually refer been subject to interventions and to an exhibition’s purpose, content and alterations in post-Byzantine times, have intended message. Key shows, inter alia, been preserved. The author argues that are the Ninth Exhibition of the Council the island’s Byzantine and post-Byzantine of Europe in Athens (“Byzantine Art: legacy entered the orbit of the Greek A European Art”, 1964), the exhibition state’s concern with a considerable delay, trilogy at the Metropolitan Museum of in the last two decades of the twentieth Art of New York (“Age of Spirituality: century. During this period, given that Late Antique and Early Christian Art, in 1994, within the framework of the 3rd‒7th Century,” 1977; “The Glory Greek Presidency of the Council of the of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the , the island hosted an EU Middle Byzantine Era, AD 843–1261,” summit, the Corfu Office of Antiquities 1997; “Byzantium: Faith and Power, of the Ministry of Culture implemented 1261–1557,” 2004), and the exhibition noteworthy policies for the restoration triptych “Byzantine Hours” in Athens, and management of Byzantine and post- Thessaloniki and (2001–2002). Byzantine monuments and museums. A feature of the majority of exhibitions It was against this background that the on Byzantium worth mentioning is their building complex of the fifteenth-century large number of visitors – the exhibition church of Antivouniotissa was exemplarily “Byzantium through the Centuries” restored, to serve as a monument-church- at the State Hermitage Museum (St museum with permanent exhibitions Petersburg, 2016) was attended by more of post-Byzantine icons,2 gospels and than 1.5 million people – testifying to the contemporary growth of interest in 1 Byzantine Corfu passed to the French Byzantium worldwide, which is closely House of Anjou in 1267 and was peacefully related with geopolitical changes. annexed by the in 1386. The last chapter, “Byzantium at the It remained under the Venetians until Turn of the Millennium in Greece: Corfu 1797, when it was ceded to the French as a Representative Case”, addresses the (1797‒1799). It later became capital of a cultural management of the Byzantine self-governing federation under Russian- past in Corfu. This Ionian island, which Ottoman control. In 1815 the Ionian Islands combines a unique natural beauty with became a British protectorate, known as the a significant cultural heritage, is an United States of the Ionian Islands, and were international tourist destination and, finally united with modern Greece in 1864. therefore, a place of notable economic 2 With the exception of one icon, importance. Corfu, having been under which dates to the first half of the fifteenth Western rule from the thirteenth to early century (p. 265).

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liturgical items; the buildings of the Old outskirts indicating the location of the Fortress were restored and in one of monuments and museums in question them – the south groin-vaulted hall in would have been very useful to the reader. the Main Gate complex – the permanent In approaching the reception and exhibition “Byzantine Collection of perception of Byzantium since Byzantium, Corfu” was organised; the church of St and aptly interpreting their relationship George in the Old Fortress, built in 1940, with well-known, unknown or even hosted a number of large-scale temporary superficially known social, political, exhibitions on Byzantine art; the pilot ideological and aesthetic trends in the programme “Archaeological Tour of the international environment, this must- Byzantine Monuments of Palaiopolis” read book takes us on a trip around the – a project for the intervention on and world. Pessimistic readers will measure enhancement of Byzantine monuments the many losses in the material remains at a major archaeological site of Corfu of the brilliant Byzantine civilisation – was planned and implemented as part and the weaknesses in its management. of the EU’s Second Community Support Optimists will appreciate that fortunately, Programme (CSF); finally, also within despite so many vicissitudes, the “utopia the framework of the Second CSF, the of Byzantium” is a living one. Byzantine fortress of Angelokastro was restored and a series of Byzantine Jenny P. Albani and post-Byzantine monuments were repaired, restored or conserved. A large- Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports scale map of the city of Corfu and its

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