of the great church, the figures look undersized, but the seated
Theotokos is more than 16 feet tall. An accompanying inscription,
now fragmentary, announced that “pious emperors” (the Macedo-
nians) had commissioned the mosaic to replace one the “impostors”
(the iconoclasts) had destroyed.
The original mosaic’s subject is uncertain, but the ninth-century
work echoes the style and composition of the Early Byzantine icon
(FIG. 12-18) at Mount Sinai of the Theotokos, Christ, and saints. In
the mosaic, however, the angular placement of the throne and foot-stool alleviate the strict frontality of Mother and (much older)
Child. The mosaicist rendered the furnishings in a perspective that,
although imperfect, recalls once more the Greco-Roman roots of
Byzantine art. The treatment of the folds of Christ’s robes is, by
comparison, even more schematic and flatter than in earlier mo-
saics. These seemingly contradictory stylistic features are not un-
common in Byzantine paintings and mosaics. Most significant
about the images in the Hagia Sophia apse is their very existence,
marking the end of iconoclasm in the Byzantine Empire.328 Chapter 12 BYZANTIUM12-20Katholikon,
Hosios Loukas, Greece, first
quarter of 11th century.
Middle Byzantine churches
typically are small and
high shouldered, with a
central dome on a drum
and exterior wall surfaces
with decorative patterns,
probably reflecting Islamic
architecture.12-21Plan of the
Church of the Theotokos
(top) and the Katholikon
(bottom), Hosios Loukas,
Greece, second half of 10th
and first quarter of 11th
centuries. (1) Dome on
pendentives, (2) dome on
squinches.
The plans of the pair
of monastic churches at
Hosios Loukas in Greece
take the form of a domed
square at the center of
a cross with four equal-
length vaulted arms
(the Greek cross).
N
0 10 20 3 0 feet
0 51 0 meters21