1. Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture
Architectural History
ACT 322
Doris Kemp

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

3. 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)

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. Byzantine Architecture: Ideal Byzantine Church
Photo: Sullivan

10. 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

11. Byzantine Architecture: Ideal Byzantine Church
Photo: Sullivan

12. Byzantine Architecture: 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

13. Byzantine Architecture: Hagia Sophia
Photo: Sullivan

14. Byzantine Architecture: 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

15. Byzantine Architecture: Hagia Sophia
Photo: Sullivan

16. Byzantine Architecture: 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

17. Byzantine Architecture: 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

18. Byzantine Architecture: Hagia Sophia
Photo: Sullivan

19. Byzantine Architecture: Hagia Sophia
Photo: Sullivan

20. 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

21. 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

22. Byzantine Architecture: Other Justinian Structures
Photo: Sullivan

23. 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

24. Byzantine Architecture: Other Justinian Structures
Photo: Sullivan

25. 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

26. Byzantine Architecture: Other Justinian Structures
S. Marco
Located in Venice, Italy
Although built in the Romanesque Period (c – 1094), it is considered more Byzantine in style than Romanesque
Photo: Sullivan

27. References Sullivan, Mary; http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/
Trachtenburg/Hyman; Architecture: From Prehistory to Postmodernity
Wodehouse/Moffett; A History of Western Architecture

28. Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture
Architectural History
ACT 322
Doris Kemp