Mary Jaharis Center Showcases Richness of Byzantine Culture

The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture at Hellenic College Holy Cross recently presented two programs exploring different but equally fascinating elements of Byzantine cultural expression.

On November 13, Amanda Luyster gave a talk on “English Bodies, Imported Silks: Byzantine Textiles in Thirteenth-century England” at the Harvard Faculty Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr. Luyster shared findings from her project documenting and analyzing a largely overlooked body of eastern Mediterranean textiles and their influence on English works of art. The lecture was co-sponsored by the Mary Jaharis Center and the Harvard University Standing Committee on Medieval Studies.

A concert on November 17 at Boston’s historic Emmanuel Church featured music composed for the service of Vespers by the fifteenth-century Constantinopolitan cantor and theorist Manuel Chrysaphes. The concert of ancient psalmody and virtuosic kalophonic chant was performed by the renowned Psaltikon Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Spyridon Antonopoulos as part of the 2018 Boston Byzantine Music Festival.