Caroline

I selected this piece of artwork because it is a prayer and prayers have always comforted me.The people of the Byzantine Empire must have greatly appreciated prayers since Prayers like this one are beautifully decorated.This prayer is called a prayer to Jesus, and has many decorations.If a wrote a page to show my appreciation I would make sure that it had many beautiful decorations. This prayer comes from an 11th century Byzantine Church.It is as an illumination.Illuminations were pieces of writing that were decorated as art. They were called illuminations because they were thought to illuminate or "lighten up" books.These books were very expsensive because they were made by specially trained scribes, who worked in special illumination workshops.Each of these scribes or illuminists left different trademarks to show that the illumination was theirs. Once printing was invented illuminations disappeared. My piece of artwork is reflective of the Byzantine Empire because it is from a church and the Byzantine Empire had many churches.Aside from illuminated prayers such as this one, the Byzantine churches also had pictures called Icons or "Holy Images". Most churches at the time were Eastern Orthodox churches. The Byzantine Empire churhes were the influence for the Russian churches. Encylopedi of Ukaraine.25 .Jan.2009<[|http://encyclopediaofukaraine.com/pages/B/Y/Byzantine Empire.htm>]  __Galery:Byzantine Images__. 25 Jan. 2009 . __The Illuminated Page__. History. 1 Feb. 2009.