TRANSFERRING BYZANTINE MATERIAL CULTURE AND ARCHITECTURAL KNOWLEDGE TO VENICE: 1204 AND 1453

Date

2026-3-27

Author

Acar, Melis

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This dissertation examines the relationship between Constantinople and Venice through the following two pivotal historical moments: the Latin conquest of Constantinople in 1204 and its capture by the Ottomans in 1453. These events created different conditions under which Byzantine material culture and architectural knowledge could be transported and transferred across the Mediterranean through copying, which evolved during this period from an act of acquisition into an architectural method. By examining them within the same framework, it became possible to trace how Byzantine objects, texts, and spatial ideas were transferred, interpreted, and reorganized in Venice under two different conditions, one in the 13th century and the other in the 16th century. After 1204, sacred objects, relics, manuscripts, and architectural fragments were removed from Constantinople and strategically inserted into Venetian monuments such as the Basilica of San Marco. Through their incorporation into new ritual and civic settings, these materials reorganized spatial symbolism and architectural meaning within the Venetian urban landscape. After 1453, the transfer of Byzantine knowledge increased through scholarly networks, migration, manuscripts, and printed books. Figures such as Cardinal Bessarion and Anna Notaras have played important roles in facilitating the circulation of texts and learning, while books such as Fra Giocondo’s illustrated edition of Vitruvius and the contemporary construction of the Biblioteca Marciana translated textual knowledge into architectural and institutional form. Cartographic images, such as Vavassore’s view of Constantinople, further transformed the city into a reproducible urban model. Through these developments, copying functioned as a key practice through which fragments, texts, images, and spatial concepts were recomposed and integrated into Venice’s architectural and civic framework. The Venetian case demonstrates how architectural knowledge moved across objects, texts, and images before being reformulated in built form and urban space.

Subject Keywords

Byzantine Architectural Knowledge, Material Culture, Copying, Venice and Constantinople, 1204 and 1453

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/119025

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis