Max Ritter, University of Silesia

In close association with sealing practises, monograms were widely employed in Byzantine architectural sculpture from the early sixth to the tenth century as a sign of possession, particularly in Constantinople. The name of the building’s patron was encoded along with other vital information to aid communication between patron and beholder. Patrons used them as effective means of self-expression and employed them as a lasting record for their built achievement. Monograms, like inscriptions, had a distinct aesthetic quality, but were more space-efficient and easily recognisable to the illiterate. Because they were spread out and repeated throughout the building, they also posed a greater challenge to erase than inscriptions. Such monograms mostly occur in church contexts. With few exceptions, the positioning of monograms within church space is a matter so far largely neglected in scholarship. In the churches, monograms were typically placed on column capitals, altar screen slabs, lintels and other highly visible parts of the building at ground level for maximum impact on the believers looking at transitional or symbolically charged spaces. By being public and repetitive, the monograms helped in fostering a dialogue between visitors and patron through the edifice. Relating the monograms on seals to those in sculpture would certainly advance scholarship of both mediums. As a matter of fact, the monograms in sculpture are often crucial for dating architecture, yet architectural historians tend to neglect their significance, as has been for instance recently highlighted by Fabian Stroth. Deciphering a patron’s name is just one aspect of such a work. Probably even more important for the study of Byzantine architecture would be a better understanding of the development of monograms along various types and letter shapes. Sigillography can offer valuable insights, as architectural practices in the use of monograms appear to have been heavily influenced by sealing practices. Yet almost the same can be said regarding sigillography, as the stylistic development of architectural sculpture in the sixth century, for example, is much more refined than that of seals, and could assist in a more refined understanding of monograms on seals.