A work on art with an enormous political meaning. A world that is disappearing. This volume is a comprehensive analysis, from a historical, social, theological, archeological and iconographic point of view, of the various expressions of art produced from the IVth to the XVth century in the vast territory of the Christian Middle East. Often confused with Byzantine art, with which it has indeed important connections, the art of the Christian Middle East is characterized by many different artistic expressions. It encompasses works of architecture, sculpture, painting (from fresco wall paintings to miniature paintings), and works belonging to the minor arts, which were produced over a period extending from the IVth to the XVth century in the territories corresponding to today’s Egypt, Ethiopia, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Cappadoce, Armenia and Georgia. The present volume aims to present the most significant, and sometimes less known aspects of the art of the Christian Orient and what distinguishes these expressions of art from the koiné (rule) of Byzantine art, highlighting the features which are common to the different areas of this huge territory in which Christianity was born and demonstrating that the Christian Middle East was an important artistic pole next to the Byzantine pole. The vast territory of the Christian Middle East was first disputed between Byzantium and the Arab Caliphates, and between the Ottoman empire and the Western powers after Byzantium’s fall. It displays an artistic peculiarity which expresses the cultural characteristics of Christian populations belonging both to the Middle Eastern Arab and to the Indo-European populations of the area around the Caucasus. As they were often the expression of populations belonging to religious minorities these forms of art are particularly vigorous and often bright. The Near and Middle East would be culturally incomplete without the existence of these Christian, Arab, Anatolic and Caucasic worlds.
• The most comprehensive publication on the arts of the Christian Middle East at international level
• The current conflicts between colonial interests and fundamentalism are threatening a thousand- year-old human and cultural presence which has left an irrefutable testimony in the arts
An indispensable reference for scholars of history of art this work is destined to be valued by a broader audience as well, especially in the light of the recent developments in the Middle East.