評論
打印
between Islamic East and Christian West.
和西方基督教相互影響
But for the imaginative freedom of the artists themselves,
但對于東西方的藝術家們來說
the future awaiting them, East or West,
等待著他們的未來
could hardly have been more different.
與他們所想象的自由完全不同
Whenever something profound happens,
凡是那種意義重大
which propels civilisation forward, it usually happens,
推動文明進步的事件發生 通常而言
not through isolated sparks of invention in one city or state
都不是發生在某個零星城市或國家
but through the spur of competition.
而是通過競爭 互相激勵
Competition across time,
不僅是縱向時間上
going one better than the ancients,
和古代的競爭
but competition across borders, too,
也是橫向國家之間的競爭
even when those borders divided warring cultures.
甚至是那些文化互不相容的國家
So it was with the renaissances
穆斯林世界和基督教世界的
in the Muslim and Christian worlds.
文藝復興就是如此
1,000 miles apart, in Rome and Istanbul,
相距一千六百多公里的羅馬和伊斯坦布爾
two old men - Michelangelo and the Turk Mimar Sinan
有兩位老人 米開朗基羅和米馬爾.希南
both veteran builders were competing for the same prize.
他們同樣建筑經驗豐富 競爭著同一份榮耀
To outdo what, for almost a millennium,
都想讓自己的作品超越近千年來
had been regarded as the greatest house of God
被公推為世界上最宏偉建筑的
in the world.
神之殿堂
The Hagia Sophia.
圣索菲亞大教堂
Commissioned by the Emperor Justinian
六世紀早期 皇帝查士丁尼一世
in the early sixth century,
下令建造了這座教堂
the Byzantine basilica was the greatest architectural
這座拜占庭大教堂是基督教早期
achievement of the early Christian church.
最偉大的建筑成就
"Its dome," Wrote one scholar,
一位學者寫道
"Seemed not to be founded on masonry at all,
"它的穹頂仿佛不是建在石砌上
"But suspended from heaven itself."
而是延伸自天堂"
