International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Marta Teruzzi
IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca, Italy; 
[e-mail]
The Meaning of Byzantine Relics within the Florentine Cultural Context
The rich literature dealing with the huge and long lasting phenomenon of the Westerners’ 
appropriation and exhibition of the holy relics coming from the Byzantine Empire has widely 
analysed the strong political value that the Byzantine relics acquired in the West. Considered as 
religious trophies, relics had an enormous importance because of their prestige and their miraculous 
properties. To the Western eyes, the provenance from the Byzantine Empire added the fundamental 
benefit of authenticity and the connection with the power of the Byzantine Emperors was perceived 
as a crucial element. This connection, and the movement in order to hoard the relics, were reinforced 
during the Crusades and during the ephemeral existence of the Latin Empire of Constantinople 
(1204-1261), which were important occasions for Westerners to travel and to grab the sacred 
remains with their precious containers. Especially the loot of 1204 was an important moment for 
transferring to the West the legendary holy treasure of Byzantium, seen as the “New Jerusalem”. In 
this context, the city of Florence is quite a peculiar case, since the majority of the Byzantine relics 
today preserved in the city did not arrive in 1204 as part of a plunder or through the Crusades, 
but between the end of the 14
th
century and the beginning of the 15
th
.. Moreover, the relics were 
mainly carried by clergymen or Tuscan officers of the Byzantine Imperial Court, and then gifted or 
sold to Florentine institutions: they appear more as the symbols of the commercial and diplomatic 
achievements of the city than of its military supremacy. This paper starts from a general survey of 
the Byzantine relics today existing in Florence, mainly preserved in the Opera del Duomo Museum 
(coming from the Baptistery of San Giovanni and from Santa Maria del Fiore) and in the complex 
of the Medici chapels (coming from the Basilica of San Lorenzo). The main aims are the definition 
of the consistency of the Florentine patrimony of Byzantine relics and the individuation of the most 
important channels and moments of arrival. In second instance, the appreciation of the Byzantine 
relics and the resonance of their acquisition are investigated, basing on different possible sources: 
their mentions inside the Florentine medieval chronicles (14
th
-15
th
century), their consideration 
inside the publications about the city and its monuments, their practical use, reuse, restoration or 
rearrangement.
Individuating the paths which brought the relics into the city and deepening the kind of 
appreciation they received means to clarify which kind of significance Byzantine relics acquired 
within the Florentine cultural context, especially in connection with the raise and the affirmation of 
the power of the city during the communal age and during the Signoria.

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