• An important new publication on the art of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages in Byzantium and the western part of the Empire
• Scholarly presentation and documentation of a key 6th-century monument that has remained largely ignored to date
• Provides insights into both the lifestyle and festive traditions of the wealthy upper classes in the Eastern Roman capital
• Explores religiosity, faith and liturgy during the Justinian era
• Substantial two-volume work, 704pp, 823 colour illustrations

The marbled columns adorned with reliefs, which stand around the high altar in San Marco in Venice, were brought from Constantinople to Venice following the Fourth Crusade in 1204 and have remained in this location ever since. They are among the most significant yet least well-known monuments of early Christian art. To date, they have been neither studied in detail nor fully documented. These two volumes undertake both tasks and provide a comprehensive analysis of this monument.

The ciborium columns feature, in 324 niches, the only early Christian pictorial cycle to have been preserved in its entirety, apart from minor damage; it depicts the history of salvation from the events preceding the birth of Mary to the Ascension of Christ, concluding with God enthroned in his glory. It features a series of scenes that have survived only here. They represent by far the most important source for the sculpture of Constantinople, which has been exceptionally poorly documented and can, in fact, only be studied here. This study conducts an iconographic analysis of all the scenes, identifies all the pictorial themes, interprets the pictorial programme, identifies depictions of patrons, examines the interaction between the scenes and liturgists and viewers, and establishes a date within the Justinian period. It introduces a new monument to early Christian and European art.

This is the German-language edition. Also available in an Italian-language edition, ISBN 9783795490928