Some considerations on the eleventh-century Byzantine wall mosaics of Hosios Loukas and San Nicolò di Lido

The wall mosaics from Hosios Loukas in Phocis, Greece, and from the now-destroyed decoration at the church of San Nicolò at the Lido of Venice both date from the eleventh century. To judge from the material evidence, both were made by Byzantine artisans, working in Byzantine territory in the Greek monastery and abroad in Venice. Looking at the two monuments from an archaeological point of view, and analyzing the very different evidence that is available to date from each monument, this article publishes for the first time numerous close-up images taken from scaffoldings in Hosios Loukas and from excavated rubble of San Nicolò.