Books by Manuela Studer-Karlen
eds. Michele Bacci, Natalia Chitishvili, Gohar Grigoryan, Thomas Kaffenberger, Manuela Studer-Karlen, Vesna Scepanovic, 2023
Analyzing some of the most remarkable images, buildings, and spaces in the Southern Caucasus betw... more Analyzing some of the most remarkable images, buildings, and spaces in the Southern Caucasus between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, this volume is an invitation to see Subcaucasian sacred spaces from the vantage point of their early devotees and beholders. These essays follow a series of case studies ranging from the division of space in churches to the liminal borders of these divisions, to pilgrimage dynamics,
images, and liturgy. The authors of this volume investigate the ways in which different socio-cultural groups living in the Caucasian area interacted not only through their artistic and architectural projects, but also conceptually and intellectually through divergent
theories and practices concerning living spaces, communal shared heritages, and the human as well as the supranatural spheres.
Zu Beginn des 14. Jahrhunderts erscheint auf dem Berg Athos, am Ursprungsort des Epitaphios Thren... more Zu Beginn des 14. Jahrhunderts erscheint auf dem Berg Athos, am Ursprungsort des Epitaphios Threnos-Ritus, ein neues Bild, das einerseits dank der Verbindung zum Ritus eine hohe Aktualität und liturgische Realität ausstrahlt und andererseits mittels der Adaption von wiedererkennbaren Bildformularen von sinngebenden Querverweisen profitiert: der Christus Anapeson. Auf dem Christus Anapeson liegt der Fokus dieser Untersuchung. Der Christus Anapeson gibt den dramatischen Höhepunkt des Passionsritus wieder und garantiert gleichzeitig die Koppelung an die Inkarnation. Da Bilder den Raum in eine Bühne für performative Erfahrungen verwandeln, geht die Wahrnehmung der Teilnehmer weit über das duale System von Bild und liturgischem Text hinaus: Der Ritus wird multisensorisch erlebt.
With its reconversion to a mosque in August 2020, the former monastic church of Saint Saviour in ... more With its reconversion to a mosque in August 2020, the former monastic church of Saint Saviour in Chora entered yet another phase of its long history. The present book examines the Chora/Kariye Camii site from a transcultural perspective, tracing its continuous transformations in form and function from Late Antiquity to the present day. Whereas previous literature has almost exclusively placed emphasis on the Byzantine phase of the building’s history, including the status of its mosaics and paintings as major works of Palaiologan culture, this study is the first to investigate the shifting meanings with which the Chora/Kariye Camii site has been invested over time and across uninterrupted alterations, interventions, and transformations. Bringing together contributions from archaeologists, art historians, philologists, anthroplogists and historians, the volume provides a new framework for understanding not only this building but, more generally, edifices that have undergone interventions and transformations within multicultural societies.
ed. by Michele Bacci, Gohar Grigoryan, Manuela Studer-Karlen, 2023
This book explores the viewing and sensorial contexts in which the bodies of kings and queens wer... more This book explores the viewing and sensorial contexts in which the bodies of kings and queens were involved in the premodern societies of Europe, Asia, and Africa, relying on a methodology that aims to overcoming the traditional boundaries between material studies, art history, political theory, and Repräsentationsgeschichte. More specifically, it investigates the multiple ways in which the ruler’s physical appearance was apprehended and invested with visual, metaphorical, and emotional associations, as well as the dynamics whereby such mise-en-scène devices either were inspired by or worked as sources of inspiration for textual and pictorial representations of royalty. The outcome is a multifaceted analysis of the multiple, imaginative, and terribly ambiguous ways in which, in past societies, the notion of a God-driven, eternal, and transpersonal royal power came to be associated with the material bodies of kings and queens, and of the impressive efforts made, in different cultures, to elude the conundrum of the latter’s weakness, transitoriness, and individual distinctiveness.
Situated between the mountain ranges of the Caucasus, the country of Georgia was constantly expos... more Situated between the mountain ranges of the Caucasus, the country of Georgia was constantly exposed to contacts with both nearby cultures and such far-away realities as the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Europe. Constant political changes, including relations to and occupations by the neighboring empires of Byzantium and the Seljuks, make the region a prime example for the investigation of the dynamics of artistic exchange during the medieval period. This volume reapproaches the impressive material legacy from the medieval period in
Georgia with a variety of new methodological approaches. The ten articles in this volume discuss, among others, general questions of cultural interaction, analyze the relation of liturgy and artistic objects, reexamine famous monuments and present a wide range
of unpublished material.
Papers by Manuela Studer-Karlen
Bibliography of a Landmark. The Chora Monastery and Kariye Camii in Constantinople/Istanbul from Late Antiquity to the 21st Century, Studer-Karlen, M. (ed.), 2023
Medieval Svaneti: Objects, Images, and Bodies in Dialogue with Built and Natural Spaces (Convivium Supplementum 12), Studer-Karlen, M., Bacci, M., Chitishvili, N. (eds.),, 2023
Image and Liturgy: The Church of the Archangels in Tanghili-The small Church of the Archangels in... more Image and Liturgy: The Church of the Archangels in Tanghili-The small Church of the Archangels in Tanghili (thirteenth century) in Svaneti stands on a hill and probably served as a pilgrimage chapel on the path between two valleys. This study considers the intersection between biblical narratives known and used from homiletic texts and their visual equivalents, in particular the liturgical experience that took place in the sacred space of Tanghili. The architecture is unique for the region, as well as irregular for its cruciform type. The entirety of the plastered interior was decorated, by two artists, with paintings that adapt to the architecture. The only saint portrayed in the program is St George. The apse shows the "Deesis-Vision" type, in which the Mandylion is integrated, and accordingly demonstrates a strong eschatological character. The Mandylion is also the focus of the Christological cycle depicted in the naos. The eight scenes on the vault and walls are positioned in such a way as to connect spatially as well as theologically. A close connection between image and liturgy results from the linking of the pictural program with texts intoned within the sacred space.
Parerga. Études en hommage à Victor I. Stoichită, Corpataux, F. (ed.),, 2022
Das Rhein-Main-Gebiet in der Spätantike – Beiträge zur Archäologie und Geschichte,, 2022
“Remarques sur la datation de Tokalı II”, in Mélanges en l’honneur de Catherine Jolivet-Lévy, Brodbeck, S., Nicolaïdes, A., Pagès, P., Pittarakis, B., Rapti, I., Yota, E. (Hrsg.) = Travaux et Mémoires 20/2 (2016), S. 573–594.
Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology & Heritage Studies, 2021
The following article approaches a historic monument on the island of Cyprus, the sixteenth-centu... more The following article approaches a historic monument on the island of Cyprus, the sixteenth-century Panagia tou Potamou church, with an interdisciplinary methodology. An in-depth study of its history, architecture, and paintings leads to a new evaluation of the church's value for Cypriot and Mediterranean research. The church has proven to be a space for burial and private memory of a sixteenth-century semirural community, reflected in the staging of a prominent burial and the iconographic topics underlining ideas of intercession and salvation. Ultimately, this enables an enhanced appreciation of “minor monuments” in general. The other angle of approach concerns heritage questions: in precarious state for most of the twentieth century, particularly the wall paintings are in urgent need of restoration. In 2015–2017, an emergency intervention secured the most fragile parts and evaluated the state of the church, proposing future ways to ensure the survival of this monument.
This book resulted from the international conference Staging the Ruler's Body in Medieval Culture... more This book resulted from the international conference Staging the Ruler's Body in Medieval Cultures: A Comparative Perspective, which took place on 23-24 November 2020 at the University of Fribourg in the framework of the research project Royal Epiphanies: The King's Body as Image and Its Mise-en-scène in the Medieval Mediterranean, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The event was organized with the support of the Conférence Universitaire de Suisse occidentale (CUSO), the Mediävistisches Institut and the Institut du monde antique et byzantin of the University of Fribourg, and the Society for the Medieval Mediterranean. The publication of the present book was made possible by the financial support of the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Council of the University of Fribourg. We warmly thank all these institutions and, above all, the contributors of this volume. Our special thanks go to Julia Oswald for her careful copy-editing, Adélaïde Mornod for help with the index, and Johan van der Beke and the rest of the team at Brepols and Harvey Miller for their engagement in the production of this book.
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Books by Manuela Studer-Karlen
images, and liturgy. The authors of this volume investigate the ways in which different socio-cultural groups living in the Caucasian area interacted not only through their artistic and architectural projects, but also conceptually and intellectually through divergent
theories and practices concerning living spaces, communal shared heritages, and the human as well as the supranatural spheres.
Georgia with a variety of new methodological approaches. The ten articles in this volume discuss, among others, general questions of cultural interaction, analyze the relation of liturgy and artistic objects, reexamine famous monuments and present a wide range
of unpublished material.
Papers by Manuela Studer-Karlen
images, and liturgy. The authors of this volume investigate the ways in which different socio-cultural groups living in the Caucasian area interacted not only through their artistic and architectural projects, but also conceptually and intellectually through divergent
theories and practices concerning living spaces, communal shared heritages, and the human as well as the supranatural spheres.
Georgia with a variety of new methodological approaches. The ten articles in this volume discuss, among others, general questions of cultural interaction, analyze the relation of liturgy and artistic objects, reexamine famous monuments and present a wide range
of unpublished material.
of medieval Serbia dating from the 13th and 14th century under the powerful dynasty of the Nemanjia, and to contribute
to its interpretation by bringing into focus the meaningful visualization of “the righteous” and “the condemned”. Although the treatment of the composition is in keeping with Byzantine images of the Last Judgment, the representations
in the Serbian churches demonstrate a great deal of flexibility in depicting the righteous and the condemned. Depending
on donors and audiences, the composition includes different motives. Not only the concrete hopes for the hereafter are integrated, but also actuality, propaganda and self-presentation are communicated.
A comparative analysis of such issues will be enabled by the fifteen papers offered by distinguished scholars from five countries, each of them focussing on different geographic and historical contexts, including Cilician Armenia, late Byzantine Serbia, the Kingdom of Hungary, Sicily, Naples, France, the Christian kingdoms of Spain and al-Andalus.”