This paper was performed as a research topic in the undergraduate curriculum of the Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly during the academic year 2012-2013. The issue relates to the investigation of reverse perspective as a way to manage space in images of Orthodox Christian art. The approach focuses on the interpretation of space as an overall proposal for conception and imputation of space according to the Orthodox Christian tradition. Therefore the paper neither focus specifically on scientific (geometric) nor purely theological approaches.

Specifically, the project is structured in two parts. The first outlines the reverse perspective and analyses the syllogism of Paul Florensky, as reflected in his essay “Reverse Perspective”. Keeping the same structure as the author, a flashback to the representational codes of the ancient world (Egypt, Greece) and the Middle Ages is primarily done. Subsequently, considering the case of Giotto, we criticize the way the images are created during the Renaissance and how these were influenced by perspective. The first part ends with the preconditions of perspective and how these can be verified.

The second part is organized into two thematic sections. In the first one an inside approach to the ideas of Byzantine art is attempted, in order to examine the way reverse perspective serve it. Through the aesthetic critique and the ecclesiastic interpretation of the Byzantine icon, we define the general context in which it exists according to the Russian theologist P. Evdokimov. In the second thematic section we continue with the reference to the relation of reverse perspective and Cubism, focusing on their similarities and differences between the two. In the end the conclusions are presented commenting simultaneously on the way of the space is represented in the illustrations.