Compartive Civilizations 12

Byzantine Architecture

K.J. Benoy

IntroductionByzantine architecture was a continuation and refinement of Roman styles and techniques.The basilica plan continued in use – as in the Church of S. Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna.

S. Apollinare In Classe - Ravenna

The characteristic nave, side aisles, apse and clerestory windows are all clearly evident.

S. Apollinare In Classe - Ravenna

The exterior similarly reveals the basilica style, though this is a building less grand and imposing than the Basilica of Constantine in Rome.

Central Plan Churches

Sta. Constanza in Rome (350 AD), the mausoleum for Constantine’s daughter, provided a model for Christian architects who sought to use the more perfect form of the circle in their designs, without the massive drum of the Pantheon.Curiously, the idea originated in Roman bath houses.

Sta. Constanza - Rome

Sta. Constanza – Rome

Note the annular vaulting of the surrounding aisle.

S. Vitale - RavennaCircular, central plan churches were very difficult to build. Octagons supporting domes became a popular and simpler to construct alternative.

S. Vitale - Ravenna

S. Vitale - Ravenna

Note how a series of large supporting piers rises to support the dome.

Gone is the Pantheon’s great drum and windowless walls.

S. Vitale - Ravenna

Around the central space run side aisles, beyond the flanking pillars, which gives additional space in a similar fashion to that of a basilica design.

S. Vitale - Ravenna

The austere brick exterior belied an incredibly ornate interior of veined marble and intricate mosaics.

Emperor Justinian

In the 6th century, the Emperor Justinian embarked on an ambitious building programme.He vastly enlarged the empire, but also decided to build the most magnificent building on the planet.His capital was packed with subject people from all around his vast empire – brand new people with enormous skills.

Justinian’s Building Projects

Hagia Sophia

The architects Anthemius of Tralles and Isodorus of Miletus were commissioned to create the greatest interior to that time.

Hagia Sophia

The architects overcame a significant engineering problem – how to place a dome upon a square base.

Building Domes

Octagonal buildings achieved this through transitional arches or corbelling features in an architectural design known as a squinch

Building Domes

Squinch in the Ibn Tulun Mosque in Cairo, Egypt.

Building Domes

Arthemius and Isodorus’ soloution was revolutionary.

They used triangular transition features from four massive support piers to a drum and then to the shallow dome above.

Hagia Sophia

This 1852 lithography clearly shows two of the great pendentives.Beyond them can be seen one of the apses, whose half dome serves to resist the outward thrust of the building and to enlarge the great interior space.

Hagia Sophia

The building was enormous and complex, requiring tremendous mathematical precision.

Figure Cutaway isometric from Great Architecture of the World

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia

Figure : Sections and Elevations from Bannister Fletcher 1924

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia – as it would have appeared without the minarets, which were added during the Moslem era.

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia – as it appears today in Istanbul.

The Byzantine Legacy

Central planned churches, based on domes were copied extensively by later builders.

St. Basil’s, in Moscow, is a particularly exuberant example.

The Byzantine Legacy

Islamic builders adopted the domed central plan as a model for virtually all mosques.

Kapitan Keling Mosque, Penang, Malaysia

Mosque, Richmond, BC

The Byzantine Legacy

Contact with Constantinople through trade convinced even the Venetians to adopt this style of Church.San Marco Cathedral is the direct result.

The Byzantine Legacy

Byzantine influence is unmistakable in Renaissance structures, like the dome of the second St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.

The Byzantine Legacy

And, of course, the tradition continues in Greek Orthodox churches throughout the world today.

Finis