Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture

Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture Architectural History ACT 322 Doris Kemp

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

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)

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

Byzantine Architecture:Ideal 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

Byzantine Architecture:Ideal 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

Byzantine Architecture:Ideal 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

Byzantine Architecture:Ideal 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

Byzantine Architecture:Ideal Byzantine Church Photo: Sullivan

Byzantine Architecture:Ideal 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

Byzantine Architecture:Ideal Byzantine Church Photo: Sullivan

Byzantine Architecture:Hagia 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 Justinian’s massive architectural campaign

Byzantine Architecture:Hagia Sophia Photo: Sullivan

Byzantine Architecture:Hagia 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

Byzantine Architecture:Hagia 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

Byzantine Architecture:Hagia 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

Byzantine Architecture:Other 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

Byzantine Architecture:Other 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

Byzantine Architecture:Other Justinian Structures Photo: Sullivan

Byzantine Architecture:Other 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

Byzantine Architecture:Other Justinian Structures Photo: Sullivan

Byzantine Architecture:Other 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

Byzantine Architecture:Other 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

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

Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture Architectural History ACT 322 Doris Kemp

Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture