Byzantine Art
The Art of the Eastern Roman Empire (330-1453) as well as the art that was developed under the direct influence of the Byzantines. Its samples are in Ravenna of Italy, Balkans, Southern Russia and the so-called Anatolia. It includes murals, illuminated manuscripts, painting on wood and, above all, mosaics, which are distinguished for their brilliant and sparkling colors, the pictorial conventions and their strong mystical religiosity. The influence of Byzantine art, whose gold centuries has been the sixth and seventh, the period since the 9th up to the 12th and the "rebirth" of the 13th with the aid of realistic stress -in the medieval European art was important and it is particularly obvious in work of Italian artists of the 13th and 14th century. With regard to Byzantine architecture, the two most important elements were the dome of brick and the dome (possibly of Persian origin). Combining these data with the already known in Christian art use of mosaics led to the appearance of a highly original style, a larger sample of which is certainly Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.