Byzantine Architecture
Byzantine architecture developed the domed church and the centralized plan, fusing structure, light, and mosaic decoration in monuments such as Hagia Sophia.
Definition
The study of the architecture of the Byzantine Empire and the early Christian East, centered on the domed church and centralized sacred space.
Scope
This topic covers the architecture of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire and the early Christian world, including the basilica, the centrally planned and domed church, the pendentive and squinch, and the integration of mosaic and marble revetment. It traces the evolution of Christian sacred space from the fourth century through the later Byzantine period and its influence on Orthodox and Islamic building.
Core questions
- How did the domed church evolve from the early Christian basilica?
- What structural devices allowed Byzantine architects to raise great domes?
- How did light and mosaic shape the experience of Byzantine interiors?
- How did Byzantine architecture influence later traditions?
Key theories
- Evolution of the Christian building type
- Richard Krautheimer's account of how Christian architecture developed from the longitudinal basilica toward centralized and domed forms in response to liturgy and imperial patronage.
- Architecture of immaterial light
- The interpretation, advanced by Cyril Mango and others, of Byzantine interiors as designed to dematerialize structure through light, gold mosaic, and floating domes to evoke a heavenly realm.
History
From the early Christian basilicas of the fourth century, Byzantine architecture moved toward the domed and centralized church, culminating in Justinian's Hagia Sophia (532–537); later middle and late Byzantine churches developed the cross-in-square plan that spread through the Orthodox world.
Debates
- Sources of the great Byzantine domes
- Scholars debate the relative roles of Roman vaulting traditions and new structural experiments in producing the unprecedented dome of Hagia Sophia and the pendentive system.
Key figures
- Richard Krautheimer
- Cyril Mango
- Anthemius of Tralles
- Isidore of Miletus
Related topics
Seminal works
- krautheimer1986
- mango1976
- kostof1995
Frequently asked questions
- What is a pendentive?
- A pendentive is a curved triangular surface that allows a circular dome to be supported over a square plan, a key Byzantine structural innovation used in Hagia Sophia.
- What is the cross-in-square plan?
- The cross-in-square is a compact church plan, common in middle Byzantine architecture, in which a central dome is surrounded by an inscribed cross of vaults within a square.