Jelena Bogdanovic is Associate Professor of Architecture at Iowa State University. Trained as an architect and an historian of art and architecture, she specializes in the architectural history of Byzantine, Slavic, Western European, and Islamic cultures in the Balkans and the Mediterranean.

"For the first time a thorough investigation examines the symbolism, cultural and religious value, and fortune of the canopy as a basic element of church architecture in Byzantium and related cultures (300-1500)...This book, which receives an elegant treatment from Oxford University Press, is furnished with rare illustrations and a number of charts and drawings that clarify the author's points and provide the nonexpert reader with precious help. Indeed, this is an invaluable scholarly contribution that helps us to understand the complexity of thoughts and beliefs behind what may appear to be a small architectural element, the canopy." -- Maria Cristina Carile, University of Bolog, Speculum

"Jelena Bogdanovic's monograph offers the first comprehensive study of a microarchitectural unit of generic form and basic tectonic integrity with a vast geographical and chronological span ... the book's major contribution is the re-assessment of the canopy as a powerful signifier, which provided dominant performance frameworks for liturgical and paraliturgical services." -- Dimitra Kotoula, Medieval Archaeology

"[A] welcome addition to the study of medieval art and architecture, as well as the framing devices, both physical and rhetorical, that were used to make the divine manifest in ecclesiastical space ... This monograph should be a standard reference and starting-point for future discussions of spatial archetypes in Byzantium and the medieval world." -- Nathan S. Dennis, Sacred Architecture

"The book is beautifully produced with many good-quality color photographs and fine drawings. It also collects and discusses an immense amount of material ranging from Syria to Italy, and from the third century to the post-Byzantine period. ... this book will likely become a useful reference for the archaeological material it assembles." --Vasileios Marinis, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"Summing Up: Recommended. Researchers only." --W. Cahn, CHOICE

"Bogdanovic's study of Byzantine ciboria is an impressive example of scholarship. The research and documentation of the large corpus of ciboria is meticulous and will be the starting place for all future scholarship on this particular type of church furnishing. In addition, her interpretation of the ciboria as a type of micro-architecture raises our level of understanding about their form and function within the broader contexts of church design and its symbolism as well as the liturgy performed under their canopies." -- Mark J. Johnson, Brigham Young University

"The Framing of Sacred Space is a major contribution to the field of Byzantine studies. Having devoted over a decade to studying churches of the Byzantine rite and earning both a master's as well as a PhD., Bogdanovic's book is impeccably researched...This author's scholarly study serves to further knowledge in architecture, fine arts, and religion. The book is highly recommended for research level library collections in these areas."--ARLIS