Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture

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Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture

• Architectural History
• ACT 322
• Doris Kemp

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Topics

• Byzantine Architecture
• The Ideal Byzantine Church
• Central Plan
• Domes
• Lighting and Decoration
• Hagia Sophia
• Other Justinian Structures

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Byzantine Architecture

• In the years around 500 A.D. the Western Empire
  laid in ruins
• Rome had been sacked twice and Italy was in the
  hands of the Ostrogoths
• The Eastern Empire lived on
• Constantinople was the capitol of the Eastern
  Empire
• Had been built on the Hellenic city of Byzantium
  (modern day Istanbul, Turkey)

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Byzantine Architecture

• A formal shift from early Christian to Byzantine
  architecture can be seen in the early sixth
  century A.D.
• Timber-roofed Latin basilican churches gave way
  to domed, central-plan structures in the Eastern
  Empire

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Byzantine ArchitectureIdeal Byzantine Church

• No two Byzantine churches were identical
• Features of the ideal Byzantine church
• Central plan
• Pendentive dome
• String focus on structure, lighting, and
  elaborate decoration

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Byzantine ArchitectureIdeal Byzantine Church

• Central Plan
• The axis descended away from visitors
• Leaves no possible active participation except
  weakly around a central axis
• In most Byzantine churches, the centralized
  building core was square

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Byzantine ArchitectureIdeal Byzantine Church

• Domes
• Central core of the church formed an integral
  part of a larger structure that included
  supporting structure and vaulting as well
• The dome complimented the spatial core of the
  church
• Domes were generally placed over cylinders, as at
  the Pantheon

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Byzantine ArchitectureIdeal Byzantine Church

• Domes
• Occasionally, domes were placed over polygons or
  even squares
• Created certain structural problems
• Pendentive
• Provided a way to set a circle (dome) atop a
  square
• A Roman invention, though rarely used
• Byzantines used pendentives very often
• Domes were used to invoke powerful images of the
  Christian heaven

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Byzantine ArchitectureIdeal Byzantine Church
Photo Sullivan
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Byzantine ArchitectureIdeal Byzantine Church

• Lighting and Decoration
• Articulation was very important in Byzantine
  architecture
• No visible surfaces were left in a natural state
• All was dissolved in color and light
• Glowing marble pavements
• Richly veined marble walls
• Extensive mosaic cycles
• Rich patterns of light created by glass and
  structural features

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Byzantine ArchitectureIdeal Byzantine Church
Photo Sullivan
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Byzantine ArchitectureHagia Sophia

• Hagia Sophia
• Symbolizes the ideal Byzantine church
• Built as the new Cathedral of Constantinople by
  the Emperor Justinian in 532 537 A.D.
• Intended to be the keystone of Justinians
  massive architectural campaign

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Byzantine ArchitectureHagia Sophia
Photo Sullivan
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Byzantine ArchitectureHagia Sophia

• Hagia Sophia
• Justinian believed that only natural scientists
  and philosophers would be able to create the
  structure he had seen in his dreams
• Designed by two men
• Anthemius of Tralles
• Natural scientist
• Mathematician
• Isidorus of Miletus
• Professor of stereometry and physics at
  Constantinople

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Byzantine ArchitectureHagia Sophia
Photo Sullivan
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Byzantine ArchitectureHagia Sophia

• Hagia Sophia
• Built in an amazing five years
• Its first dome was destroyed by an earthquake and
  rebuilt in 563 A.D.
• Was converted to a mosque by the Ottoman Turks

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Byzantine ArchitectureHagia Sophia

• Hagia Sophia
• Has some structural problems
• Main piers are of excellent solidarity, built of
  massive ashlar masonry
• Rest of the building, however, was built of brick
  in thick mortar beds
• The dome generates tremendous pressure
• Corners are supported by pendentives but the
  sides have little support

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Byzantine ArchitectureHagia Sophia
Photo Sullivan
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Byzantine ArchitectureHagia Sophia
Photo Sullivan
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Byzantine ArchitectureOther Justinian Structures

• No other Byzantine churches approach even half
  the scale of Hagia Sophia
• Two churches bear a resemblance to Hagia Sophia
• SS. Sergious and Bacchus
• S. Vitale

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Byzantine ArchitectureOther Justinian Structures

• SS. Sergius and Bacchus
• Located in Constantinople
• Built as a palace chapel between 527 and 536
• Many historians believe it was an experimental
  version of the Hagia Sophia

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Byzantine ArchitectureOther Justinian Structures
Photo Sullivan
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Byzantine ArchitectureOther Justinian Structures

• S. Vitale
• Located in Ravenna, Italy
• Very precise and strict double-shell form that
  featured a dome
• Featured mosaics of Justinian and his queen,
  Theodora, and their court

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Byzantine ArchitectureOther Justinian Structures
Photo Sullivan
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Byzantine ArchitectureOther Justinian Structures

• Church of St. John the Evangelist
• Built at his tomb in the Hellenistic city of
  Ephesus on the coast of Asia Minor
• c. 548 A.D.

Photo Sullivan
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Byzantine ArchitectureOther Justinian Structures

• S. Marco
• Located in Venice, Italy
• Although built in the Romanesque Period (c. 1063
  1094), it is considered more Byzantine in style
  than Romanesque

Photo Sullivan
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References

• Sullivan, Mary http//www.bluffton.edu/sullivanm
  /
• http//www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.htm
  l
• Trachtenburg/Hyman Architecture From Prehistory
  to Postmodernity
• Wodehouse/Moffett A History of Western
  Architecture

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Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture

• Architectural History
• ACT 322
• Doris Kemp