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BYZANTINE See also:ARCHITECTURE
The See also:term " Byzantine " is applied to the See also:style of architecture which was See also:developed in See also:Byzantium after See also:Constantine had transferred the See also:capital of the See also:Roman See also:empire to that See also:city in A.D. 324.
It is not possible, in the See also:early ages of any style which is based on preceding or contemporaneous styles, to draw any hard and fast See also:line of demarcation; and already before the See also:Peace of the See also: If so, as the construction of their vaults is quite different from that employed by the See also:Romans, it suggests that there already existed in the See also:East a traditional method of See also:building vaults of whichthe emperor availed himself ; and, although it is not possible to trace all the earlier developments, the traditional See also:art of the East, found throughout Syria and See also:Asia See also:Minor, must from the first have wrought See also:great changes in the architectural style, and in some measure this would See also:account for the comparatively shcrt See also:period of two centuries which elapsed between the See also:foundation of the new empire and the culminating period of the style under Justinian in AD. 532-558.
Constantine is said to have built three churches in See also:Palestine, but these have either disappeared or have been reconstructed since; an early basilican church is that of St See also: 27.-See also:Plan of SS. See also:Sergius ingly in the first church which he and Bacchus. built (fig. 27), that of SS. Sergius and Bacchus (A.D. 527), the whole building is vaulted; the church is about See also:loo ft. square, with a narthex on one side. The central portion of the church is octagonal (52 ft. wide), and is covered by a See also:dome, carried on arches across the eight sides, which are filled in with columns on two storeys. These are recessed on the See also:diagonal lines, forming apses. The vault is divided into See also:thirty-two zones, the zones being alternately flat and See also:concave. We now pass to Justinian's greatest work, the church of St See also:Sophia (fig. 28), begun in 532 and dedicated in 537, which marks the highest development of the Byzantine style and became the See also:model' on which all See also:Greek churches, and even the mosques built bythe Mahommedans in Constantinople, from the 15th century on-wards, were based. The architects employed were See also:Anthemius of See also:Tralles and Isidorus of See also:Miletus, and the problem they had to solve was that of carrying a dome 107 ft. in See also:diameter on four arches. The four arches formed a square on plan, and between them were built spherical pendentives, which, overhanging the angles, reduced the centre to a circle on which the dome was built. This dome See also:fell down in 555, and when rebuilt was raised higher and pierced round its See also:lower See also:part with See also:forty circular-headed windows, which give an extraordinary lightness to the structure. At the east and See also:west ends are immense apses, the full width of the dome, which are again subdivided into three smaller apses. The north and See also:south arches are filled with lofty columns carrying arches opening into the See also:aisle on the ground See also:storey and a See also:gallery on the upper storey, the walls above being pierced with windows of immense See also:size. The church was built in See also:brick, and internally the walls were encased with thin slabs of See also:precious See also:marble up to a great height (fig. 29). The walls and vault above were covered with mosaics on a See also:gold ground, which, as they represented See also:Christian subjects, were all covered over with See also:stucco by the See also:Turks
after the taking of Constantinople. During the restoration in the See also:middle of the 19th century, when it became necessary to See also:strip off the stucco, these mosaics were all See also:drawn and published by Salzenburg, and they were covered again with See also:plaster to prevent their destruction by the Turks. The columns of the whole church on the ground floor are of See also:porphyry, and on the upper storey of verd See also:antique. The length of the church from entrance See also:door to eastern See also:apse is 26o ft.; in width, including the aisles, it See also:measures 238 ft., and it measures 175 ft. to the See also:apex of the dome. The columns and arches give scale to the small apses, the small apses to the larger ones, and the latter to the dome, so that its immense size is grasped from the first. The See also:lighting is admirably distributed, and the See also:rich decoration of the marble slabs, the monolith columns, the elaborate carving of the capitals, the beautiful marble inlays of the spandrils above the arches, and the glimpse here and there of some of the See also:mosaic, which shows through the stucco, give to this church an effect which is unparalleled by any other interior in the See also:world. The narthex or entrance See also:vestibule forms a magnificent See also: Externally the building has little pretensions to architectural beauty, but its dimensions and varied outline, with the See also:groups of smaller and larger apses and domes, make it an impressive structure, to which the See also:Turkish minarets, though ungainly, add picturesqueness. In A.D. 536 a second important church was begun by See also:Theodora, the church of the IToly Apostles, which was destroyed in 1454 by order of Mahommed II. to build his See also:mosque. The design of this church is.known only from the clear description given by See also:Procopius, the historian who has transmitted to us the See also:record of Justinian's work, and its See also:chief See also:interest to us now is that it forms the model on which the church of St See also:Mark at See also:Venice was based, when it was restored, added to, and almost rebuilt about 1063. The church of St Sophia was not only the finest of its See also:kind at the time of its erection, but no building approaching it has ever been built since in the Byzantine style, nor does much seem to have been done for two or three centuries afterwards. At the same time the erection of new churches must have been going on, because there are certain changes in design, the results probably of many trials. The difficulty of obtaining sufficient See also:light in domes of small diameter led to the windows being placed in See also:vertical drums, of which the earliest example is that of the western dome of St See also:Irene at Constantinople, rebuilt A.D. 718-740. This simplified the construction and externally added to the effect of the church. The greatest See also:change, however, which took place, arose in consequence of the comparatively small dimensions given to the central dome, which rendered it necessary to provide more space in another way, by increasing the See also:area on each side,sc that the plan developed into what is known as the Greek See also:cross, in which the four arms are almost equal in dimensions to the central dome, and were covered with barrel vaults which amply resisted its thrust. In front of the church a narthex and sometimes an exonarthex was added, which was of greater width than the church itself, as in the churches (both in Constantinople) of the Theotokos and of Chora (A.D. Io8o). The latter, better known as the " mosaic mosque," on account of its splendid decoration in that material, is of See also:special interest, because in the five arches of its See also:facade we find the same design as that which originally constituted the front of the lower part of St Mark's at Venice, before it was encrusted with the marble casing and the plethora of marble columns and capitals brought over from Constantinople. Sometimes an additional church was built adjoining the first church and dedicated to the immaculate Virgin, as in the church of St See also:Mary Panachrantos, Constantinople, the church of St See also:Luke of Stiris, See also:Phocis, and the church in the See also:island of See also:Paros. In the last-named church the apse still retains its marble seats, rising one above the other, with the See also:bishop's throne in the centre. In addition to the churches already mentioned in Constantinople, there are still some which have been appropriated by the Turks and utilized as mosques. At See also:Mount See also:Athos there are a large number of Greek churches, ranging from the loth to the 16th centuries, which are attached to the monasteries. At See also:Athens one of the most beautiful examples is preserved in the Catholicon or See also:cathedral, the materials of which were taken from older classical buildings. This cathedral measures only 40 ft. by 25 ft., and is now overpowered by the new cathedral erected See also:close by. The See also:external design of the Byzantine churches, as a See also:rule, is extremely See also:simple, but it owes its quality to the fact that its features are those which arise out of the natural construction of the church. The domes, the semi-domes over the apses, and the barrel vaults over other parts of the church, appear externally as well as internally, and as they are all covered with See also:lead or with tiles, laid See also:direct on the vaults, they give See also:character to the design and an extremely picturesque effect. The same principle is observed in the doorways and windows, to which importance is given by accentuating their constructivefeatures. The arches, always in brick, are of two orders or rings of arches set one behind the other, and the voussoirs, alternately in brick and stone, have the most pleasing effect. The same simple treatment is given to the walls by the See also:horizontal courses of bricks or tiles, alternating with the stone courses. In the apse of the church of the Apostles at Salonica, variety is given by the interlacing of brick patterns. This elaboration of the See also:surface decoration is carried still further in the palace of Hebdomon at Blachernae, in Constantinople, built by Constantine Porphyrogenitus (913-949), where the spandrils of the arches are inlaid with a mosaic of bricks in various See also:colours arranged in various patterns.
There would seem to have been a revival in the 11th century, possibly a reflex of that which was taking place in See also:Europe, and it is to this period we owe the churches of St Luke in Phocis, the church at See also:Daphne, and the churches of St Nicodemus and St See also:Theodore in Athens. The finest example of brick patterns is that which is found in the church of St Luke of Stiris, attached to the monastery in the See also:province of Phocis, north of the Gulf of See also:Corinth, of which an admirable monograph was published in 1901 by the See also:committee of the See also:British School at Athens, illustrated by measured drawings of the plans, elevations, sections and mosaics by Messrs See also:Schultz and See also:Barnsley, with a detailed description. The church of St Luke of Stiris is one of those already referred to, where a second church dedicated to the See also:Holy Virgin has been added, but in this See also:case, according to Messrs Schultz and Barnsley, on the site of a more See also:ancient church of which the narthex alone was retained. The plan of the great church differs from the See also:ordinary Greek cross in that the arms of the cross are of much less width than the central domed square, and arches being thrown across the angles carry eight pendentives instead of four. On the east side the See also:Diaconicon and See also:Prothesis are included in the width of the domed portion instead of forming the eastern termination of the aisles. The churches at
Daphne in See also:Attica and of St Nicodemus at Athens
have a similar plan.
The decoration of the smaller church of St Luke of Stiris is of the most elaborate character, See also:bright patterns of See also:infinite variety alternating with the brick courses, and as blocks of marble, removed from the site of the old city near, were available, they have been utilized in various parts of the structure and richly carved. The church at Mistra in the See also:Peloponnesus, 13th century, built in the side of a See also: One of the See also:differences to he noted is that the domes and roofs are generally in stone externally, and this has led to another change; the domes, though hemispherical inside, have conical roofs over them. There is also a greater admixture of styles, the See also:Persian, Byzantine and Romanesque phases entering into the design; the last was probably derived from the churches of central Syria, as the Armenians were the only See also:race who seem to have Penetrated there, and the finest example, at See also:Kalat Seman, was at one time in their See also:possession. The church at Dighur near See also:Ani, of the 7th century, also probably owes its classical details to the work in central Syria. The most important example of the Armenian style is found in the cathedral at Ani, the capital of Armenia, dating from A.D. 1010. In this church pointed arches and coupled piers are found, with all the characteristics of a See also:complete pointed-arch style, which, as See also:Fergusson remarks, " might be found in See also:Italy or See also:Sicily in the 12th or 14th century." Externally the walls are decorated with lofty See also:blind arcades similar to those in the cathedral at See also:Pisa and other churches in the same See also:town, which are Probably fifty years later. The elaborate See also:fret carving of the window dressings and hcod moulds are probably borrowed from the See also:tile decoration found in See also:Persia. See also:Russia.—The architecture of Russia is only a somewhat degraded version of the style of the Byzantine empire. The earliest buildings of importance are the cathedrals of See also:Kiev and See also:Novgorod, 1019-1054. The See also:original church of Kiev consisted of nave, with triple aisles each side, the piers in which are of enormous size, a See also:transept and square bays of the See also:choir beyond, each with deep apsidal chapels. Externally the chief features are the bulbous domes adopted from the See also:Tatars, which sometimes assume great dimensions. Internally, the chief feature is the See also:Iconostasis, which corresponds to the See also:English See also:rood See also:screen, except that in Russia it forms a complete separation between the church and the See also:sanctuary with its See also:altar. One of the most remarkable churches is that of St See also:Basil at See also:Moscow (1534-1584), which in plan looks like a central hall, surrounded by eight other halls of smaller dimensions, all separated one from the other by vaulted corridors; this arrangement is not intelligible until one See also:sees the exterior view, which accounts for the plan; each one of these halls is crowned by lofty towers with bulbous domes, the centre one rising above all the others and terminated with an octagonal roof, probably derived from the Armenian conical roof. "I he See also:oldest and most interesting church in Moscow is the church of the See also:Assumption (1479), where the tsars are always crowned; but as it measures only 74 ft. by 50 ft., it is virtually little more than a See also:chapel; the plan is that of a Greek cross with central dome and four others over the angles. One other church deserves mention—at Curtea de Argesh, in See also:Rumania. It was built in 1517–1526, and though small (90 by 5o ft.), is built entirely of stone, instead of brick covered with stucco, as is the case with the churches in Moscow. The interior has been entirely sacrificed to the exterior, the domes being raised to an extravagant height. The relative proportion of width of nave to height of dome in St Sophia at Constantinople is about one to two; in the church at Curtea de Argesh it is about one to five; and yet there can be little doubt the design was made by one of those Armenian architects who seem to have been always employed at Constantinople, and who presumably based their designs there on St Sophia as regards its See also:principal features. Here, however, he was working for Tatar employers who attached more importance to display than to See also:good proportion. In See also:general design the church is based on Armenian work. The elaborately carved panels and disks are copied from the inlays in the mosques in Damascus and of See also:Sultan See also:Hassan at See also:Cairo, and the stalactite cornices and capitals of the columns are transcripts of the See also:Mahommedan style of Constantinople, which was derived from the style developed by the See also:Seljuks. We were only able to point to a single example of a tower in the Byzantine style, but in Russia the towers not only constitute the principal See also:accessory to the church but were necessary adjuncts, in order to provide See also:accommodation for bells, the casting of which has at all times formed one of the most important crafts in Russia. The chief examples, all in Moscow, are the tower attached to the church of the Assumption; the tower of Boris, inside the Kremlin; and that erected over the sacred gate of the same. But they abound throughout Russia; and in some cases form important features in the principal elevations on either side of the narthex. (R. P. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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