New Perspectives on the Art of Byzantine Constantinople: Recent Italian Studies

This poster is the outcome of a student-led project carried out by the advanced bachelor’s and master’s students of the Byzantine Art History courses at the University of Roma Tre (Rome, Italy). Their study examines and reports on the most recent Italian publications devoted to the artistic production in and from Constantinople (4th–15th centuries), published approximately between the dates of the 24th International Congress of Byzantine Studies (Venice and Padua 2022) and the 25th International Congress of Byzantine Studies (Vienna 2026). Academic books, edited volumes, and substantial articles will be considered, commenting upon the main critical problems they address, and the new research perspectives they open up. Part of the project is dedicated to the exhibitions, that have been organized in Italy in recent years to present the art of Constantinople to a broader audience, as well as to the catalogues and guidebooks that have accompanied these exhibitions. Attention will also be paid to the popularization of Constantinople and its artistic heritage in the new media. What aspects of the art and architecture of the New Rome are covered in the most recent Italian scholarship, and what approach is adopted? Does the new research succeed in having a positive impact on the various forms of popularization, or could these efforts be further expanded, and if so, how? The poster will present the reflections on these and other crucial questions that the selected readings have stimulated in the students, at a time when there is a radical rethinking of the way in which the art history of the medieval Mediterranean is explored and narrated.