Thanks to a European Union grant, one of Joannes Gennadius's scrapbooks with images from the Balkan wars is now available on the web.
Architecture as Icon: The Case of Minoan Crete
June 06, 2011 5:00 p.m.
Beginning in the 3rd millennium and continuing through the 2nd, sacred spaces were defined in terms of places where people gathered for focused worship. Formalization of these practices can be first observed in mortuary and some residential settings in the creation of built spaces that both channeled and contained groups of worshippers. With the formation of urban centers in the early 2nd millennium specific architectural forms were formalized and monumentalized, and these suddenly began to be represented in a lively and expressive art that characterizes the Neopalatial Period (c. 1750-1550 BCE). One of the most striking aspects of this development is the emergence of an iconography of architecture that combines sacred natural spaces with monumental built spaces and populates them with a ranked individuals, who often are displayed participating in processional ceremonies that culminate in large gatherings. The representations suggest a powerful ideology that integrates all levels and sectors of the ancient “Minoan” society.