Search

THE IMAGERY OF THE GOTHIC CATHEDRAL: A HIEROTOPIC APPROACH // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2016. Issue 3 (9). P. 9-24

This paper studies the iconicity of Gothic cathedrals using the hierotopic methodology developed by Alexei Lidov. The genesis of early Gothic church architecture is viewed as a newly emergent type of a sacred space, distinct from that of the preceding Romanesque period. Hierotopy analyzes the creation of sacred spaces in terms of “image-paradigms”, or guiding imagevisions, which both give form to the sacral ensemble as a whole and encapsulate its central meaning. The image-paradigm of Heavenly Jerusalem, as often associated with medieval cathedrals, occupies the central focus of the paper. I examine three principal sources of influence at work in the Gothic re-vision of this paradigmatic iconic image: the development of an urban way of life, the emerging notion of historical progress and the onset of secularization. I argue that the renewed architectural icon of the Holy City epitomized both the external features and the very spirit of the medieval city. Its rhythmic linear structure embodied the march of historical time (which continued to be viewed as sacred history and a way to salvation), and its composite make-up gave shape to the urban motto, “unity in diversity”, a de-facto foundational principle of Western civilization. By focusing in particular on the Gothic hierotopic project of the Saint-Denis cathedral, I discuss the motivations of those championing the new architectural style, and, more broadly, I compare Byzantine and Western visions of iconicity in order to bring to light characteristic features of the Gothic aesthetic.

Keywords: Gothic architecture, Heavenly Jerusalem, hierotopy, iconicity, image-paradigm

PROTESTANT HIEROTOPY IN DUTCH GOLDEN AGE PAINTING // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2017. Issue 3 (13). P. 10-32

This paper employs the concept of Protestant Hierotopy to explore the spiritual roots of Dutch Golden Age Painting. Hierotopic methodology, as developed by Alexei Lidov, focuses on the creation of sacred spaces as a form of human creativity. Though the Reformation may have done away with the sacred spaces of churches and sanctuaries, it introduced in their place a new kind of hierotopy: a sacralization of the whole of Creation, with a particular focus on human environments. The admiration for nature was imbued with religious feelings, while cleanliness and domesticity came to be seen as closely akin to holiness. In this paper I interpret Dutch Golden Age Painting as an iconography of this new sacrality. I argue that what we find in this art ought to be understood, not as a purely descriptive objective ‘realism’ conceived for its own sake, but rather as a ‘fervent’ or even ‘sacred’ naturalism motivated by admiration for God’s creation and enhanced by a Protestant sense of cooperating with the Creator. Such motives can be found at work in all genres of Dutch fine art. Still lifes, especially bunches of flowers, extremely lifelike and physically impossible at the same time, can be seen as icons of God’s Creation. Modest bourgeois dwellings, embellished by palace-grade Oriental carpets and marble flooring, are elevated in painted interiors to the level of veritable temples of domesticity. Early modern admiration for God’s Creation was inspired by Calvinistic teachings with regards to Nature as God’s manifestation, as well as by neostoic pantheism and by the contemporary scientific passion for the visible world and its study by observation. All these diverse influences worked together to inform a whole new worldview of Protestant Hierotopy in which the natural and the domestic acquired an aura of sacrality, while their representation in art took on an iconic dimension.

Keywords: Dutch painting, Dutch Golden Age, hierotopy, Protestantism, Calvinism, Baroque, Neostoicism, Natural Theology, art theory, iconography, iconology, realism, still life, landscape, domesticity

HIEROTOPY AS PRINCIPLE AND INSTRUMENT // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2018. Issue 2 (16). P. 62-85

Hierotopy is a novel concept, originally developed by Alexei Lidov, that is defined both as the creation of sacred spaces viewed as a special form of human creativity as well as a related academic field of study. Sergey Zagraevsky has challenged the scientific validity of hierotopy in his opinion article published in the preceding issue of this journal. As he argues, hierotopy studies a poorly defined “sacred space”, the very existence of which has yet to be proven and can only be postulated in an act of faith. The present paper offers a response in defense of hierotopy. I analyze both Zagraevsky’s arguments as well as the assumptions underlying them, and elucidate three fundamental misconceptions within his critique. Firstly, he misinterpreted the interplay at work between the religious and the scientific in hierotopy. While he directly states in his paper that hierotopic research necessarily involves a mystical revelation by the researcher in accordance with the researcher’s own beliefs, I explain why this is a clear misapprehension of hierotopy, and, in essence, confuses the object of study with a research program itself. Secondly, his perspective on hierotopy from the standpoint of an architecture historian prevents him from recognizing the key role played by icons and iconicity in the construction of sacred spaces as well an important role of performativity. Thirdly, in attempting to assign hierotopy a fixed position within the established structure of scientific disciplines, he has overlooked its essentially holistic character and its function as an interdisciplinary discourse with its own focus. It is due to these misunderstandings that Zagraevsky arrives at a skewed conception of hierotopy, namely, that hierotopic research consists in nothing more than an attempt to divine ephemeral, sacred meanings by way of mystical inspiration, and that it is but a terminological “superstructure” that has no proper object of study, relying instead on substantial content borrowed from traditional disciplines. But in reality, as this paper argues, the main subject of hierotopy is the culturehistorical process of the formation of sacred spaces viewed as products of conscious human creativity. Its methodology is free from mysticism, even while the motivations of the actual creators of sacred spaces can be, and frequently are, influenced by religious views and tinted with mystical ideas. The invention of hierotopy has been a logical result of the evolution of the theory of sacred art, with iconography serving as its essential point of departure. Hierotopy has earned wide recognition and academic validation.

Keywords: hierotopy, methodology, discourse, sacred spaces, spatial icon, visual semiotics of religion

THE IMAGE-PARADIGM OF JERUSALEM IN CHRISTIAN HIEROTOPY // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2018. Issue 3 (17). P. 101-113

Image-paradigms are non-pictorial mental images of the sacred. They are engendered in the viewer’s imagination by means of organized ensembles of iconic, symbolic and typological elements of sacred spaces and emerge from a manifold of interrelating associations. In this paper I elucidate this complex notion by studying the example of one image-paradigm of fundamental importance, namely, the Holy City of Jerusalem, which appears to the religious imagination as the synthesis of an idealized historical city-relic and its celestial counterpart – the Heavenly Jerusalem. This Jerusalem is both the ‘navel’ of the world and a place of God’s immediate, living presence. The Church as a whole, as well as individual churches, are identified with Jerusalem, which reflects their primary function of serving as meeting places with God. While participating in the liturgy and integrating into the liturgical space, the faithful feel themselves to be in the midst of the Heavenly Jerusalem, a feeling which clearly cannot be reduced to or evoked by a simple two-dimensional picture. Generally, pictures are unable fully to represent a sense of being somewhere. They help to create ambiences, but they cannot represent them. It takes more than a pictorial representation to transport oneself, in the mind’s eye, to another place. This is what is involved in the concept of the image-paradigm. The image-paradigm works by means of a ‘spatial icon’, that is, a thoughtfully arranged spatial system of pointers, including architecture, an iconographic program, as well as the entire liturgical performance, including the very presence of the congregation absorbed in pious contemplation. An image-paradigm belongs to the religious tradition as a whole and takes shape in individual minds through a wide variety of religious experiences, including training, reading, prayer, liturgical life, mysticism, etc. An image-paradigm can be evoked in sacred spaces only because it is known beforehand to all the actors involved, both to those arranging them as well as viewers. In this paper, I begin with a brief review of iconographic strategies employed in conjuring the image-paradigm of the Holy City in Christian churches. In particular, the Celestial City can be represented in icons by means of earthly architecture including either recognizable motives of Constantinian Jerusalem or idealized and even fantastic patterns. Next, I move on to New Jerusalems, that is, Medieval re-constructions of the Christian Jerusalem, which were used as sites of virtual pilgrimage. Finally, I discuss possible links between Russian onion domes and the cupola of most prominent Jerusalem churches: the Holy Sepulcher and the Dome of the Rock. Particularly, I show how the famous cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed in Moscow was designed to represent Jerusalem as a city of multiple and diverse churches. In closing I turn to the Western tradition and provide a summary characterization of Gothic architectural icons of the Holy City and compare them to the Byzantine strategies.

Keywords: hierotopy, image-paradigm, Jerusalem, Christianity, iconography, Solomon’s Temple, Byzantium, Holy City, sacred space