Cofanetti, eulogie e sacri sedili: reliquie e reliquiari bizantini nell'Alto Adriatico (VI-XIII secolo)

This chapter explores the reception of Byzantine objects, particularly relics and reliquaries, in Friuli Venezia Giulia, and analyzes their role in the context of the region’s political developments during the Middle Ages and beyond. The first paragraph focuses on the contrasts between the patriarchates of Aquileia and Grado, which emerged as early as the 6th century and in which the church treasuries played a pivotal role. The possession of significant relics both of local martyrs and of Saint Mark – housed in precious and decorated containers – was a crucial factor in determining the predominance of one city over another, and in the competition of these with Venice. The circumstance that some of those objects were purportedly donated by the Byzantine Emperor Eraclius (610-641), despite the absence of substantiating material or documentary evidence, underscores the importance of the cultural and political network that connected the North Adriatic cities and the eastern Mediterranean region. It is worthwhile to acknowledge that some of these artifacts were, in fact, imported from Byzantium or were, at the very least, imbued with its visual culture. This is exemplified by the cylindrical silver-gilt box with the Maria Regina (with its trove of relics) and of the staurotheke in the Treasury of St. Euphemia in Grado, although art historical remarks raise concerns regarding the actual date and provenance of these objects. Within the same spectrum, the second paragraph is devoted to an in-depth discussion of two problematic artifacts, namely the ‘Sedia di San Marco’ and the ‘Grado chair’. The former – a marble throne now in St. Mark’s, Venice – raises several questions, including the date and place of its production, the circumstances of its arrival in Grado, and its intended function. Based on a thorough typological and iconographic analysis, it is argued that its complex visual program, centered on an eschatological subject, advocates for an eastern Mediterranean origin. The so-called ‘Grado chair’, if it existed at all as an ensemble, is represented today only by a few fragmentary ivory panels (depicting stories of Saint Mark, of the Gospels, and images of prophets and saints). These panels may also be of early Byzantine origin, although within the same problematic framework as its marble counterpart. However, both objects underwent a similar process of transformation into relics of the Evangelist once they reached the North Adriatic shore. This process of ‘reliquization’ developed, beyond the Middle Ages, in the Early Modern era, when legends and fabricated traditions proliferated. It is a phenomenon that can be observed in other Byzantine and Western artifacts in Medieval Friuli, as discussed in the concluding remarks.