Movies |
Byzantium the Lost Empire: Heaven on Earth (Part 2) |
Mark Merlino - Home page |
||||||
![]() |
||||||||
In "Heaven on Earth" John Romer tells the story of Byzantine religious art and symbolism and how to understand Byzantines through their art. This is a beautifully produced documentary with chilling music and amazing filming on-site in numerous old Byzantine churches and towns. This documentary describes the story of origins and development of Christian symbolism, how is grew out of pagan ideas of religious art and how precious holy images were to Byzantines. This narrative is richly told by the use of several stories, from the last prophecy of the oracle of Delphi, to the story of how the Byzantine Empress Pulcheria redefined how Byzantines viewed Mary, women in general and government. How after Pulcheria Byzantines saw Mary as the Mother of God and the imperial family as God's regents on earth. The film also does an excellent job at describing the miraculous character of sacred art by mentioning the Acheropita or images not made by human hands. In his narrative, Romer does an excellent job at explaining why, when imperial armies lost battles and the empire suffered, many Byzantines turned against their holy images. In telling the story of iconoclasm, Romer explains how we can learn about the past through art, architecture and archeology. Though he stresses that during the iconoclastic era, the imperial desire for luck could not stop popular devotion to the holy images. Above all, this documentary gives the viewer a glimpse into the rich meaning that the Byzantines associated with their icons, the cosmic, timeless character of Byzantine iconography. Simply put, this documentary tells the story of Byzantine religion, which guided the Byzantine way of life. |
||||||||