Polycandelon with Crosses, 500–700, Byzantine, Copper alloy, Ht. with chain 14 in. (), Metalwork-Copper alloy, Round flat

---

Polycandelon with Crosses, 500–700, Byzantine, Copper alloy, Ht. with chain 14 in. (), Metalwork-Copper alloy, Round flat hanging lamps, or polycandela, were lit by oil-filled glass vessels hung from the round holes in their designs. Paul the Silentiary in 563 described the effect of huge hanging lamps that lit the great church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople: “Thus is everything clothed in beauty…no words are sufficient to describe the illumination in the evening: you might say that some nocturnal sun filled the majestic church with light

---

Size: 3871px × 4838px
Photo credit: © Artokoloro / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 14, , 500–700, 563, alloy, beauty…, byzantine, chain, church, clothed, constantinople, copper, crosses, describe, designs, effect, evening, filled, flat, glass, great, hagia, hanging, holes, ht, huge, hung, illumination, lamps, light, lit, majestic, metalwork-copper, nocturnal, oil-filled, paul, polycandela, polycandelon, silentiary, sophia, sufficient, sun, vessels, words