Byzantine Cross

For my symbol in the mosaic I decided to do the Byzantine Cross, a famous cross that was found in the Byzantine Empire. It is mostly used in the Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church, and cannot be found in any other ones. The second bar from the top is for the INRI inscription while the bottom one is for his footrest. This sign represents sacredness and religion, it is commonly found in churches and serves as a sign of sacredness. Over all, I chose this for my mosaic because it really had a meaning and at the same time could be done. This project was really interesting and I look forward to more interactive projects.

Unit Reflection

The Byzantine Empire played a huge in conserving history and brand a lot down to the modern world. Once it built its empire from the Greeks and the Romans, the Byzantine Empire preserved valuable aspects from them after they disappeared. In this way, the Byzantine Empire was the keeper of the past and therefore the keeper of many mysteries. To begin with, literature and religion were a large part of the Byzantine Customs. They mainly wrote and spoke in Greek and adopted many Roman aspects as well. They copied the Roman and Greek language that came with great files of history that may have been gone for sure. Through writing and literature, the Byzantines saved a lot of knowledge regarding science, math, philosophy and many more. Religion and Christianity also flourished during the Byzantine Empire which still carries onto modern religion and beliefs. Next, the Byzantines had a great architectural knowledge also excelled in art. The Byzantines built great buildings and decorated with fine art. For example, the Hagia Sophia Church was a huge Christian Church. With great knowledge it was built and decorated with mosaics of saints and other sacred and holy people. Icons could also be spotted of Jesus and Mary, for example. To place it all together, the Byzantine Empire kept all the lost achievements from the Greeks and Romans. They basically put those two empires together and formed a new one that would affects all up to modern days. Without the Byzantine Empire, we would not have many information that are crucial today. We excel in science and math from their basic research. Even if the Byzantine Empire is long gone, is still is a crucial topic because it brings so much to our modern lives. Over all, without them we would not have had such advanced technology, religion, knowledge and architectural skills.

St. Petka's Reflection

Today, we went to the Saint Petka's chapel and were assigned a drawing of a mosaic. For my mosaic drawing, I drew Mary, a very important and crucial figure. Although I only drew Mary, she was being worshiped by another figure. This figure was very colorful, and included blue, red, yellow, orange, purple and gray. Mary was wearing purple, a supposed royal color. However, she was covered in a gray ordeal, that covered most of her body. As seen in many other mosaics, Mary had the halo indicating the sign of power and importance. For the objects, Mary was sitting on two pillows,one that was red and the other one blue. Along with the two pillows, Mary was placed in a decorated chair. The figure worshiping her was not as important, due to the fact it did not have power signs. Mary also had floating feet, the same goes for the figure to the left.

I believe that this mosaic does go along with the rules set by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Both of the figures have floating feet, and in this case, Mary is taller than everyone, indicating power. Mary is larger than the other figure and the picture is more focused on her. If the figures were to join, Mary would certainly over lap the remaining figures or objects. Over all, I believe that this mosaic perfectly fits the standards or rules given to us by the Museum.

Lastly, this mosaic is a perfect example of Byzantine Art. It is very similar in size, color, shape and objects. This mosaic seems to perfectly fit the Byzantine Art standards. The mosaics are very similar, and have equal details. In conclusion, this Mary mosaic will certainly fit and be a great real life example of Byzantine Art.