7 XII: Ivan Foletti (Brno), Experiencing the sacred in one’s own skin: images and liturgy in late antique Rome

Abstract

In the late antique world, the city of Rome is progressively (and thus radically) transformed by Christian rituals. One of the essential elements of this transformation is certainly the stationary liturgy that unites the different identity points of the city in a complex network of images, objects and spaces. The purpose of this intervention is to show – based on three representative examples, the doors of Santa Sabina, the mosaic of Saints Cosmas and Damian, and the ivory Maskel casket – the revolutionary syntony between body, image, and performance.