Wladimir Zaloziecky and European Byzantine Studies in the first half of the 20th century

Abstract

This article deals with one aspect of Wladimir Zaloziecky’s scientific heritage – the study of Byzantine art. The survey begins with his formation as a Byzantinist while having acquired theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of art. W. Zaloziecky appealed scholars to study single artistic phenomena first and then to analyze them in the context of broader artistic trends and their interrelations. He emphasized that one should go not from generalizations to individual art objects, but to draw general conclusions after having based on the investigation separate facts. W. Zaloziecky presented the researches of Byzantine sacred architecture in the Ukrainian lands (St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Transfiguration of the Lord Cathedral in Chernihiv). He was the first to publish his studies on the Byzantine style Galician icons (15th-17th centuries) and substantiated the relevance of their further study. W. Zaloziecky identified Dnieper Ukraine as a shield of the Byzantine foundations of culture, which was later a reservoir of traditional foundations of Ukrainian culture. Galicia is considered a unique region where Byzantine and Western cultures were in dialogue, their mutual enrichment. W. Zaloziecky revealed a positive perception of Byzantine art and appealed for more thorough studies in this area. Apart from scholarly work, he lectured at the Lviv Theological Academy, travelled to Ravenna, Constantinople, and Asia Minor. These expeditions enabled scholar to make his discoveries while directly examining art objects. W. Zaloziecky published his research results in several monographs with the special attention on byzantine tradition in the Art of the Central and Southern Europe.