A Royal Reception Room: The Blachernai Palace Triklinos and the Cappella Palatina Compared

One of the most interesting and well-preserved medieval royal reception halls is the Cappella Palatina of the Palazzo dei Normanni in Palermo. Its lay-out and multicultural decoration, of which influences have been sought in Byzantium and the Muslim world, have been the object of much interest and study. In the discussion of possible architectural parallels, scholars have pointed to various halls in the no longer extant Great Palace in Constantinople (Tronzo, Ćurčić). Another contemporary Byzantine reception hall, the main triklinos of the little-studied Blachernai palace, like the Great Palace, only known through texts, has escaped scholarly attention. This poster aims to draw a parallel between the two halls, the Blachernai triklinos and the Cappella Palatina, which will shed new light on both palaces and their inspirations, as well as underline the commonalities between royal court cultures in the medieval East Mediterranean.