Byzantine Churches in Constantinople Their History and Architecture Alexander Van Millingen 9781470127794 Books
Download As PDF : Byzantine Churches in Constantinople Their History and Architecture Alexander Van Millingen 9781470127794 Books
This volume is a sequel to the work I published, several years ago, under the title, Byzantine Constantinople the Walls of the City, and adjoining Historical Sites. In that work the city was viewed, mainly, as the citadel of the Roman Empire in the East, and the bulwark of civilization for more than a thousand years. But the city of Constantine was not only a mighty fortress. It was, moreover, the centre of a great religious community, which elaborated dogmas, fostered forms of piety, and controlled an ecclesiastical administration that have left a profound impression upon the thought and life of mankind. New Rome was a Holy City. It was crowded with churches, hallowed, it was believed, by the remains of the apostles, prophets, saints, and martyrs of the Catholic Church ; shrines at which men gathered to worship, from near and far, as before the gates of heaven. These sanctuaries were, furthermore, constructed and beautified after a fashion which marks a distinct and important period in the history of art, and have much to interest the artist and the architect. We have, consequently, reasons enough to justify our study of the churches of Byzantine Constantinople. Of the immense number of the churches which once filled the city but a small remnant survives. Earthquakes, fires, pillage, neglect, not to speak of the facility with which a Byzantine structure could be shorn of its glory, have swept the vast majority off the face of the earth, leaving not a rack behind. In most cases even the sites on which they stood cannot be identified. The places which knew them know them no more. Scarcely a score of the old churches of the city are left to us, all with one exception converted into mosques and sadly altered. The visitor must, therefore, be prepared for disappointment. Age is not always a crown of glory; nor does change of ownership and adaptation to different ideas and tastes necessarily conduce to improvement. We are not looking at flowers in their native clime or in full bloom, but at flowers in a herbarium so to speak, or left to wither and decay. As we look upon them we have need of imagination to see in faded colours the graceful forms and brilliant hues which charmed and delighted the eyes of men in other days.
Byzantine Churches in Constantinople Their History and Architecture Alexander Van Millingen 9781470127794 Books
Professor Van Millingen has written an exhaustive study of Byzantine churches that once stood in Constantinople - their architecture, features, fate and, often, his take on what inspired them in the first place. Why would anybody want to know all this, though? Well, Istanbul and (more to the point) the vanished grid of Byzantium have a habit of guiding your feet after a while, if the history of the place grabs you at all, and you find yourself staring at buildings and marvelling that they're still there - still being used, in ruins or incorporated into modern buildings. Kids kick footballs against the walls of churches built in times of Greek emperors and dynasties, washing lines are tied to them, and that's fine; their use ensures their continued existence. The professor's book gives you all the background. I sometimes wonder what drove him to write it... but then perhaps it's the same feeling that drives me to read it, and to follow the trails to which it points. [It doesn't give you much guidance there; it's not a guide book. To find the churches, you need something like John Freely's excellent Blue Guide.] There are many plates showing churches that are no longer there, as well as views of some that still are, and what they looked like - impossibly - a century ago, when the photos were taken. It was a different world then, and an even stranger one further back, and professor Van Millingen allows you, ever so fleetingly sometimes, a peek at it. [I had the book out of the British Council library in Istanbul more or less constantly for two years... I wish I'd stolen it - nobody else would want to read it, surely - but not really... I do wish it were in print, though.] If you're into the picturesque, the strange, the pointlessly beautiful, and into seeing what once was, then this book is for you, followed [I almost guarantee] by a trip to Istanbul.Product details
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Tags : Byzantine Churches in Constantinople: Their History and Architecture [Alexander Van Millingen] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. This volume is a sequel to the work I published, several years ago, under the title, Byzantine Constantinople: the Walls of the City,Alexander Van Millingen,Byzantine Churches in Constantinople: Their History and Architecture,CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform,1470127792,ART History Medieval
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Byzantine Churches in Constantinople Their History and Architecture Alexander Van Millingen 9781470127794 Books Reviews
Professor Van Millingen has written an exhaustive study of Byzantine churches that once stood in Constantinople - their architecture, features, fate and, often, his take on what inspired them in the first place. Why would anybody want to know all this, though? Well, Istanbul and (more to the point) the vanished grid of Byzantium have a habit of guiding your feet after a while, if the history of the place grabs you at all, and you find yourself staring at buildings and marvelling that they're still there - still being used, in ruins or incorporated into modern buildings. Kids kick footballs against the walls of churches built in times of Greek emperors and dynasties, washing lines are tied to them, and that's fine; their use ensures their continued existence. The professor's book gives you all the background. I sometimes wonder what drove him to write it... but then perhaps it's the same feeling that drives me to read it, and to follow the trails to which it points. [It doesn't give you much guidance there; it's not a guide book. To find the churches, you need something like John Freely's excellent Blue Guide.] There are many plates showing churches that are no longer there, as well as views of some that still are, and what they looked like - impossibly - a century ago, when the photos were taken. It was a different world then, and an even stranger one further back, and professor Van Millingen allows you, ever so fleetingly sometimes, a peek at it. [I had the book out of the British Council library in Istanbul more or less constantly for two years... I wish I'd stolen it - nobody else would want to read it, surely - but not really... I do wish it were in print, though.] If you're into the picturesque, the strange, the pointlessly beautiful, and into seeing what once was, then this book is for you, followed [I almost guarantee] by a trip to Istanbul.
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