Experiencing the Portico Spaces of Middle and Late Byzantine Monastic Churches

Focusing on the experiences of both clerics and lay people within the monastic churches of the Middle and Late Byzantine periods, this chapter delves into spaces that have received scant attention to date: those of the porticoes attached to the facades of buildings. The study begins by examining the architectural characteristics and spatial meanings of these semi-independent structures, located between the exterior and the interior, through a reflective use of the concept of liminality. By their nature and location, and the practical advantages they offer, porticoes are the sites of a plurality of experiences, which this chapter then explores. It investigates the shared experience of spatiality shaped by the social interactions occurring within these places, as well as the individual experiences, enhanced by multisensory phenomena.