2006 Etude de terrain sur l’interaction culturelle à partir de l’analyse de la réutilisation d’éléments architecturaux byzantins dans les édifices selgiucides en Turchie et la préparation d’un catalogue des monuments recensés Nationality:
Italy Category: History of art
“Byzantium Incorporated: Seljuk Religious Architecture and the Reuse of Antique and Byzantine Spolia” : the study which the Fondation Marc de Montalembert has generously supported and encouraged focuses on the encounter between Islam and Christianity in Anatolia between the eleventh and the thirteenth century, during the initial phases of the Islamic rule in the peninsula under the Seljuk Turks of Rum. I have looked into processes of artistic and cultural confrontation between the two cultures through the phenomenon of incorporation and reuse of Byzantine and Hellenistic architectural elements into new Seljuk religious buildings. With the support of the Foundation, I was able to travel extensively in Central Turkey during the summer 2006, and to carry out a photographic survey of spolia in Seljuk religious buildings of the area. The result of this campaign is a digital database of images and archaeological data, documenting the importance and the meaning of reuse of Byzantine architectural elements in Seljuk Anatolia.