Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire, also known as the
Later Roman or Eastern Roman Empire. This terminology is used by modern historians to
designate the medieval Roman Empire as it evolved as a distinct artistic and cultural
entity centered on the new capital of Constantinople rather than the city of Rome and environs.
The empire endured for more than a millennium, dramatically influencing Medieval architecture
throughout Europe and the Near East, and becoming the primary progenitor of the Renaissance
and Ottoman architectural traditions that followed its collapse.
Overview of extant monuments Early Byzantine architecture was built as
a continuation of Roman architecture. Stylistic drift, technological advancement, and political
and territorial changes meant that a distinct style gradually resulted in the Greek cross
plan in church architecture. Buildings increased in geometric complexity,
brick and plaster were used in addition to stone in the decoration of important public
structures, classical orders were used more freely, mosaics replaced carved decoration,
complex domes rested upon massive piers, and windows filtered light through thin sheets
of alabaster to softly illuminate interiors. Most of the surviving structures are sacred
in nature, with secular buildings mostly known only through contemporaneous descriptions.
Early architecture
Prime examples of early Byzantine architecture date from Justinian I's reign and survive
in Ravenna and Istanbul, as well as in Sofia. One of the great breakthroughs in the history
of Western architecture occurred when Justinian's architects invented a complex system providing
for a smooth transition from a square plan of the church to a circular dome by means
of pendentives. In Ravenna, we have the longitudinal basilica
of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, and the octagonal, centralized structure of the church of San
Vitale, commissioned by Emperor Justinian but never seen by him. Justinian's monuments
in Istanbul include the domed churches of Hagia Sophia and Hagia Irene, but there is
also an earlier, smaller church of Sts Sergius and Bacchus, which might have served as a
model for both in that it combined the elements of a longitudinal basilica with those of a
centralized building.
Secular structures include the ruins of the Great Palace of Constantinople, the innovative
walls of Constantinople and Basilica Cistern. A frieze in the Ostrogothic palace in Ravenna
depicts an early Byzantine palace. Hagios Demetrios in Thessaloniki, Saint Catherine's
Monastery on Mount Sinai, Jvari Monastery in present-day Georgia, and three Armenian
churches of Echmiadzin all date primarily from the 7th century and provide a glimpse
on architectural developments in the Byzantine provinces following the age of Justinian.
Remarkable engineering feats include the 430 m long Sangarius Bridge and the pointed arch
of Karamagara Bridge. The period of the Macedonian dynasty, traditionally
considered the epitome of Byzantine art, has not left a lasting legacy in architecture.
It is presumed that Basil I's votive church of the Theotokos of the Pharos and the Nea
Ekklesia served as a model for most cross-in-square sanctuaries of the period, including the Cattolica
di Stilo in southern Italy, the monastery church of Hosios Lukas in Greece, Nea Moni
of Chios, and the Daphni Monastery near Athens.
The cross-in-square type also became predominant in the Slavic countries which were Christianized
by Salonikas missionaries during the Macedonian period. The Hagia Sophia church in Ochrid
and the eponymous cathedral in Kiev testify to a vogue for multiple subsidiary domes set
on drums, which would gain in height and narrowness with the progress of time.
Comnenian and Paleologan periods In Istanbul and Asia Minor the architecture
of the Komnenian period is almost non-existent, with the notable exceptions of the Elmali
Kilise and other rock sanctuaries of Cappadocia, and of the Churches of the Pantokrator and
of the Theotokos Kyriotissa in Istanbul. Much architecture survives on the outskirts of
the Byzantine world, where the national forms of architecture came into being: in the Transcaucasian
countries, in Russia, Bulgaria, Serbia, and other Slavic lands; and also in Sicily and
Veneto. The Paleologan period is well represented
in a dozen former churches in Istanbul, notably St Saviour at Chora and St Mary Pammakaristos.
Unlike their Slavic counterparts, the Paleologan architects never accented the vertical thrust
of structures. As a result, there is little grandeur in the late medieval architecture
of Byzantium. The church of Holy Apostles in Thessaloniki
is often cited as an archetypal structure of the late period, when the exterior walls
were intricately decorated with complex brickwork patterns or with glazed ceramics. Other churches
from the years immediately predating the fall of Constantinople survive on Mount Athos and
in Mistra. Structural evolution
As early as the building of Constantine's churches in Palestine there were two chief
types of plan in use: the basilican, or axial, type, represented by the basilica at the Holy
Sepulchre, and the circular, or central, type, represented by the great octagonal church
once at Antioch. Those of the latter type we must suppose were nearly always vaulted,
for a central dome would seem to furnish their very raison d'etre. The central space was
sometimes surrounded by a very thick wall, in which deep recesses, to the interior, were
formed, as at the noble church of St George, Salonica, or by a vaulted aisle, as at Sta
Costanza, Rome; or annexes were thrown out from the central space in such a way as to
form a cross, in which these additions helped to counterpoise the central vault, as at the
Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna. The most famous church of this type was that of
the Holy Apostles, Constantinople. Vaults appear to have been early applied to the basilican
type of plan; for instance, at Hagia Irene, Constantinople, the long body of the church
is covered by two domes.
At St Sergius, Constantinople, and San Vitale, Ravenna, churches of the central type, the
space under the dome was enlarged by having apsidal additions made to the octagon. Finally,
at Hagia Sophia a combination was made which is perhaps the most remarkable piece of planning
ever contrived. A central space of 100 ft square is increased to 200 ft in length by
adding two hemicycles to it to the east and the west; these are again extended by pushing
out three minor apses eastward, and two others, one on either side of a straight extension,
to the west. This unbroken area, about 260 ft long, the larger part of which is over 100 ft
wide, is entirely covered by a system of domical surfaces. Above the conchs of the small apses
rise the two great semi-domes which cover the hemicycles, and between these bursts out
the vast dome over the central square. On the two sides, to the north and south of the
dome, it is supported by vaulted aisles in two storeys which bring the exterior form
to a general square.
At the Holy Apostles five domes were applied to a cruciform plan; the central dome was
the highest. After the 6th century there were no churches built which in any way competed
in scale with these great works of Justinian, and the plans more or less tended to approximate
to one type. The central area covered by the dome was included in a considerably larger
square, of which the four divisions, to the east, west, north and south, were carried
up higher in the vaulting and roof system than the four corners, forming in this way
a sort of nave and transepts. Sometimes the central space was square, sometimes octagonal,
or at least there were eight piers supporting the dome instead of four, and the nave and
transepts were narrower in proportion. If we draw a square and divide each side into
three so that the middle parts are greater than the others, and then divide the area
into nine from these points, we approximate to the typical setting out of a plan of this
time. Now add three apses on the east side opening from the three divisions, and opposite
to the west put a narrow entrance porch running right across the front. Still in front put
a square court. The court is the atrium and usually has a fountain in the middle under
a canopy resting on pillars. The entrance porch is the narthex. Directly under the center
of the dome is the ambo, from which the Scriptures were proclaimed, and beneath the ambo at floor
level was the place for the choir of singers. Across the eastern side of the central square
was a screen which divided off the bema, where the altar was situated, from the body of the
church; this screen, bearing images, is the iconostasis. The altar was protected by a
canopy or ciborium resting on pillars. Rows of rising seats around the curve of the apse
with the patriarch's throne at the middle eastern point formed the synthronon. The two
smaller compartments and apses at the sides of the bema were sacristies, the diaconicon
and prothesis. The ambo and bema were connected by the solea, a raised walkway enclosed by
a railing or low wall. The continuous influence from the East is
strangely shown in the fashion of decorating external brick walls of churches built about
the 12th century, in which bricks roughly carved into form are set up so as to make
bands of ornamentation which it is quite clear are imitated from Cufic writing. This fashion
was associated with the disposition of the exterior brick and stone work generally into
many varieties of pattern, zig-zags, key-patterns etc.; and, as similar decoration is found
in many Persian buildings, it is probable that this custom also was derived from the
East. The domes and vaults to the exterior were covered with lead or with tiling of the
Roman variety. The window and door frames were of marble. The interior surfaces were
adorned all over by mosaics or frescoes in the higher parts of the edifice, and below
with incrustations of marble slabs, which were frequently of very beautiful varieties,
and disposed so that, although in one surface, the coloring formed a series of large panels.
The better marbles were opened out so that the two surfaces produced by the division
formed a symmetrical pattern resembling somewhat the marking of skins of beasts.
Legacy In the West
Ultimately, Byzantine architecture in the West gave way to Romanesque and Gothic architecture.
In the East In the East it exerted a profound influence
on early Islamic architecture, During the Umayyad Caliphate era, as far as the Byzantine
impact on early Islamic architecture is concerned, the Byzantine artistic heritage formed a fundamental
source to the new Islamic art, especially in Syria and Palestine. There are considerable
Byzantine influences which can be detected in the distinctive early Islamic monuments
in Syria and Palestine, as on the Dome of the Rock at Jerusalem, the Umayyad Mosque
at Damascus. While the Dome of the Rock gives clear reference in plan - and partially in
decoration - to Byzantine art, the plan of the Umayyad Mosque has also a remarkable similarity
with 6th- and 7th-century Christian basilicas, but it has been modified and expanded on the
transversal axis and not on the normal longitudinal axis as in the Christian basilicas. This modification
serves better the liturgy for the Islamic prayer. The original mihrab of the mosque
is located almost in the middle of the eastern part of the qibla wall and not in its middle,
a feature which can be explained by the fact that the architect might have tried to avoid
the impression of a Christian apse which would result from the placement of the mihrab in
the middle of the transept. The tile work, geometric patterns, multiple arches, domes,
and polychrome brick and stone work that characterize Islamic and Moorish architecture were influenced
to some extent by Byzantine architecture. In Orthodox countries
In Bulgaria, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine, Macedonia, and other Orthodox countries
the Byzantine architecture persisted even longer, giving birth to local schools of architecture.
In Medieval Serbia: Raška architectural school, Vardar architectural school and Morava architectural
school. Neo-Byzantine architecture
Neo-Byzantine architecture had a small following in the wake of the 19th-century Gothic revival,
resulting in such jewels as Westminster Cathedral in London, and in Bristol from about 1850
to 1880 a related style known as Bristol Byzantine was popular for industrial buildings which
combined elements of the Byzantine style with Moorish architecture. It was developed on
a wide-scale basis in Russia during the reign of Alexander II by Grigory Gagarin and his
followers who designed St Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kiev, St Nicholas Naval Cathedral in Kronstadt,
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia, Saint Mark's church in Belgrade and the New Athos
Monastery in New Athos near Sukhumi. The largest Neo-Byzantine project of the 20th century
was the Temple of Saint Sava in Belgrade. Gallery
See also Architectural style
Medieval architecture Neo-Byzantine architecture
Ottoman architecture Architecture of Kievan Rus'
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh,
ed.. Encyclopædia Britannica. Cambridge University Press.
Further reading Fletcher, Banister; Cruickshank, Dan, Sir
Banister Fletcher's a History of Architecture, Architectural Press, 20th edition, 1996. ISBN
0-7506-2267-9. Cf. Part Two, Chapter 11. Mango, Cyril, Byzantine Architecture.
Ousterhout, Robert; Master Builders of Byzantium, Princeton University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-691-00535-4.
External links Overview of Byzantine architecture in Constantinople
The temples of the new religion Christianization of the ancient temples