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The Western Imitation of Byzantine Bindings: The 'Alla Greca' Bindings

After the fall of Costantinople in 1453 Western imitations of Byzantine bindings began to appear in Italy, in connection with the growing interest of the humanists in Greek texts. | Lecture by Silvia Pugliese, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana

The main features of both the Byzantine and Western bookbinding traditions will be briefly discussed, in order to examine how they were combined to create the ‘alla greca’ bindings. While the cover decoration was always executed with tools of Western design, the construction techniques of this new and luxurious bookbinding typology show an interesting evolution, from the highly hybridised examples of the 15th century to a wide range of technical possibilities during the 16th century.

Particular attention will be paid to the group of manuscripts with ‘alla greca’ bindings produced in 1566-68 for the Venetian patrician Daniele Barbaro, now held at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.

Information

 

Tuesday, 7 October 2025, 5 P.M.

Lecture Room 5

ÖAW | IMAFO
Postsparkasse
Georg Coch-Platz 2, Floor 4
1010 Wien

EINLADUNG

Kontakt:
Dr. Maria Theisen
Mag. Viviana Elisa NICOLETTI, Dipl.-Restauratorin
Institut für Mittelalterforschung (IMAFO) der ÖAW