The long nineteenth century witnessed a profound reconfiguration of Byzantine heritage across Europe and beyond. This period not only marked the institutionalization of Byzantine studies with the founding of journals and university chairs but also saw Byzantium emerge as a powerful cultural construct, reinvented through visual arts, architecture, music, literature, and performance. Far from a neutral revival, this reimagining of Byzantium intersected with the formation of national identities, colonial ambitions, and ideological narratives that reshaped both scholarly discourse and artistic production. This panel investigates how Byzantium was appropriated and transformed to serve diverse political, religious, and cultural agendas. It explores the ways in which the Byzantine legacy was used to legitimize modern identities, articulate imperial ideologies, or construct notions of historical continuity. Particular attention is paid to the tension between local reinterpretations and transregional exchanges, as well as to the entangled relationships between Byzantium, Orientalism, and the European imaginary. By examining these processes through an interdisciplinary lens, the panel contributes to a broader reflection on the uses of the past in modernity. It also engages with current debates on the decolonization of cultural heritage by reassessing how material and visual culture were mobilized to produce new cultural taxonomies and historical narratives. This panel aims to illuminate the multiplicity of “modern Byzantiums” that emerged across different geographies and discursive contexts, offering new insights into the enduring relevance and adaptability of the Byzantine image in the modern age.
The historical association of Russia with Byzantium was based on Orthodox Christianity, introduced to ‘Kyivan’ Rus’ from Constantinople. St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral in Kyiv (1862–1882), built at the suggestion of the Metropolitan of Moscow to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the baptism of ‘Kyivan’ Rus’ by Prince Volodymyr the Great, and Chersonesus Cathedral (completed in 1874–1876),…
The Byzantine revival, understood as a modern phenomenon, has frequently been associated with imperial or national representation. This association is evident in the institutionalization of the Byzantine revival as the preferred style for Russian churches and in the promotion of Byzantine-style mosaics in the Bavarian and Prussian kingdoms. It has also been regarded as an…
In the multicultural and politically charged milieu of Trieste, a pivotal port city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Neo-Byzantine architecture emerged as a powerful medium of religious, cultural, and ideological expression. From the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century, edifices such as the Serbian Orthodox Church of San Spiridione (1869), the monumental Synagogue (1912), and the…