ABSTRACT
Architectural styles are defined by certain paradigmatic features, such as the Islamic muqarnas, the Classical pediment, and the Gothic rose window. These emblematic elements are frequent signifiers of their respective architectural styles. The rose window, an ocular opening decorated by carved stone tracery, has traditionally been understood as a hallmark of the Gothic stylecreated during its formative stage and hence exclusive to it. The possibility that the rose window was also present in Byzantine architecture or other contexts has, to my knowledge, not been discussed in the literature. When examples of tracery-decorated round openings have been encountered in Byzantine monuments-as for example, the dilapidated rose window in the tower of the Peribleptos Monastery in Mistra, with its European patrons and artisans-they have been explained as isolated examples of Western influence. This chapter seeks to explicate the appearance of the rose window in Byzantine ecclesiastical architecture as a phenomenon distinct from its Gothic counterparts.
