LIGHTING AND BYZANTINE GLASS TESSERAE

Abstract

Abstract – A key component of many Byzantine churches was the mosaics on the curved walls and ceilings, which included gold and silver glass tesserae. As the viewer or the light moved within the church, these tesserae sparkled. In this paper we describe how we captured a Polynomial Texture Map of the apse mosaic at the Angeloktisti Church at Kiti, Cyprus and used it to investigate how the position of the lighting may have affected the appearance of the mosaic. Our study showed that the appearance of the mosaics is indeed significantly different when lit from various directions.