HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1
Byzantine Architecture
KIRSTIE ANN LEE, UAP
Lecturer- National University-Fairview
EASTERN
EMPIRE
Historical background Byzantium
Greek Timeline
• ancient city of Byzantium was founded byGreek
colonists from Megara around 657 BCE.
• The region would remain important to the Greeks
as well as the Romans.
• lay in a highly fertile area, the city was far more
important due to its strategic location. Not onlydid
it stand guard over the only entrance into the Black
Sea but it also lay by a deep inlet - The Golden
Horn - meaning the city could only be attacked
from the west.
Historical background Byzantium
Roman Timeline
• Although becoming an ally of the Roman Empire and in
many ways becoming very Romanized, Byzantium
remained fairly independent, acting as a stopping-off point
for Roman armies on their wayto AsiaMinor.
• When Emperor Diocletian divided the Roman Empire into a
tetrarchy (rule by four), Byzantium fell into the eastern
half, ruled by Diocletian.
• Constantine I came into power in the western half in312 CE
. He build his new capital on the site of ancient Byzantium,
New Rome; becoming the cultural and economic center of
the east
• Upon Constantine's death in 337 CE, the city wouldbe
renamed Constantinople in his honor.
Byzantine Architecture
• The architecture of the eastern sphere of the later
Roman Empire. developing from late Roman and
early Christian antecedents in the 5th century
and Influencing church building In Greece. Italy.
and elsewhere for more than a thousand years:
characterized by masonry construction. round arches.
shallow domes carried on pendentives. and the
extensive use of rich frescoes. colored glass mosaics,
and marble revetments to cover whole Interiors.
TYPICAL PLAN OF BYZANTINE
CHRSTIAN CHURCH exedra
exonarthex
3
4
4
5
1 2
6 7
8
3
5
4 4
3
TYPICAL PLAN OF BYZANTINE CHRSTIAN
CHURCH
APSE
EXEDRA
BEMA
NAVE
TRANCEP
T
1
2
REVIEW: TYPICAL PLAN OF EARLY
CHRISTIAN
- A picture or decorative pattern made by
inlaying small, colored pieces of tile, enamel or
glass mortar
- A representation of a
Christian personage as Christ
or Saint, typically painted on
wood surface and itself
venerated as being a sacred.
Endless knot ornament-
symbolize eternity
- Justinian –responsible for rebuilding
- Architects: Athemius of Tralles and Isodorus of Milletus
Gallery loft
BASILICA ET CATEDRAL DI SAN
MARCO,VENICIA
With the rise of Christianity:
• Some pagan temples were
often converted to
Churches
• Ex: Rotunda church of
Thessalonica: originally
meant as a mausoleum
forEmperor Galerius and
built during his reign of 305-
311 CE but converted
into a church in the 4th-
6th centuryCE.
With the rise of Christianity:
• more buildings liberally reused the high-quality
stone blocks and column drums of Roman-era
structures. Ancient capitals were also reused,
although the Byzantines added more intricate and
deeper carved decoration to their own Corinthian
capitals, and they often added an impost (from the
4th century CE onwards) above the capital itself.
29 May1453 Ottoman Invasion
Theodosian Wall MERLON
LOOP
HOLE CRENEL
MOAT
Sultan Mehmed
II
• Fall of Constantinople
• RISE OF THE Islamic
OTTOMAN EMPIRE
THANK YOU!!
References:
• Global History of Architecture; Francis D.K. Ching, et al.
• AVisual Dictionary of Architecture; Francis D.K. Ching
• History of Architecture; Sir Bannister Fletcher
• Lecture; Ar. Roy De Guzman
• Lecture; Ar. AuroraPanopio
• https://www.slideshare.net/tuanviet95/comparison-between-early-christian-
and-byzantine-architecture
• Cartwright, M. (2018, June 26). Byzantine Architecture. World History
Encyclopedia.Retrieved from https://www.ancient.eu/Byzantine_Architecture/
Influences
THANK YOU!!
Good luck & God bless inyour
Exams!
