Windows, Visions, and Liminality in the Fifth-Century West

IVANOVICI, Dan-Vladimir. Windows, Visions, and Liminality in the Fifth-Century West. In Liminality and Medieval Art I, Center for Early Medieval Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, 11-12.12.2017. 2017.

Basic information

• Original name: Windows, Visions, and Liminality in the Fifth-Century West
• Authors: IVANOVICI, Dan-Vladimir (642 Romania, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: Liminality and Medieval Art I, Center for Early Medieval Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, 11-12.12.2017. 2017.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 60401 Arts, Art history
• Country of publisher: Czech Republic
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14210/17:00104310
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts
• Keywords in English: baptism; initiation; liminality; windows; nocturnal; late antiquity

Abstract

Starting from the paradoxical presence of windows on late antique baptisteries used at night, the paper considers the effect windows of cultic buildings had in the period. Drawing on late antique descriptions, the paper argues for windows being instrumental in the construction of a concept of sacred space and, with it, of a hierarchy rooted in their perception. The analysis points to the windows as part of a coherent strategy developed by the Church to both segment and integrate late antique communities in a crucial moment of its existence, when the cult became a mass religion.

Links

• MUNI/H/1402/2016, interní kód MU: Name: Transforming the Spaces and the Minds. Materiality, Performativity and Perception in the Late Antique (4th–6th century) Baptismal Zones (Acronym: TSP)

Investor: Masaryk University, Individual High risk/high gain projects