Byzantine Architecture: Centralized church typology:Spatial planning, construction and other features Greek cross and Latin cross Knowledge of placing a dome over a regular polygonal plan with preventives Example- Hagia Sophia, Constantinople. EH202-HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE III

1. SEMESTER 4
EH202-HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE III
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
GOVT. ENGINEERING COLLEGE, THRISSUR
Faculty: Ar. Gary Gilson (Asst. Professor) | 2019

2. MODULE 2

3. Byzantine Architecture:
Centralized church typology:
Spatial planning, construction and other features
Greek cross and Latin cross
knowledge of placing a dome over a regular polygonal plan with pendentives
Example- Hagia Sophia, Constantinople.
Old St. Peter’s church.

4. Historic-context
• By the time Constantine became the Caesar of
the Roman empire, the Empire had split in half.
• The Western Roman Empire centered in Rome,
speaking Latin
• The Eastern Roman Empire of Byzantium
(Constantinople), today Istanbul
• Byzantium, "New Rome", was later renamed
Constantinople and is now called Istanbul. The
empire endured for more than a millennium,
dramatically influencing Medieval and
Renaissance era architecture in Europe and,
following the capture of Constantinople by the
Ottoman Turks in 1453, leading directly to the
architecture of the Ottoman Empire.

5. • The Eastern Empire, or Byzantine Empire became strong and stable in the sixth
century under Emperor Justinian.
• Lasting 1000 years, with a great cultural history.
• It fell to the Turks in 1453.
• The borders were breached and the Emperor was forced to abandon Rome,
moving the centre northward, first to Milan then to Ravenna.
• Barbarians spilled over the rest of the Roman Empire, Germany, Spain, Italy, Gaul,
and Africa.
• By the end of the sixth c. there were dozens of barbarian kingdoms which
replaced the central authority of the Roman Emperor.
• Sea trade ceased, great cities were abandoned, and Rome shrunk.
• Just about every institution of the Government ceased, except one; the Church.

7. Architecture of Byzantine Empire
• Characterized especially by massive Architecture domes with square bases
and rounded arches and spires and extensive use of glass mosaics.
• Early Byzantine architecture was built as a continuation of Roman
architecture.
• Stylistic drift, technological advancement, and political and territorial
changes meant that a distinct style gradually emerged which imbued
certain influences from the Near East and used the Greek cross plan in
church architecture.

8. Greek & Latin Cross Plans
• Greek cross plan in church architecture:
A cross with four equal arms at right angles.
• Buildings increased in geometric complexity.
• Brick and plaster were used in addition to
stone in the decoration of important public
structures.
• Classical orders were used more freely,
mosaics replaced carved decoration.
• Complex domes rested upon massive piers,
and windows filtered light through thin sheets
of alabaster to softly illuminate interiors.

9. Greek Cross
• A square plan in which the nave, chancel and
transept arms are of equal length forming a Greek
cross, the crossing generally surmounted by a
dome became the common form in the Orthodox
Church, with many churches throughout Eastern
Europe and Russia being built in this way.
• Churches of the Greek Cross form often have a
narthex or vestibule which stretches across the
front of the church.
• This type of plan was also to later play a part in
the development of church architecture in
Western Europe, most notably in Bramante's plan
for St. Peter's Basilica

10. • The Byzantine Church of the
Holy Apostles, Athens, shows
a Greek Cross plan with
central dome and the axis
marked by the narthex
(transverse vestibule).

11. • Pisa Cathedral from the
"Leaning Tower" shows
the Latin Cross form,
with projecting apse,
foreground and free-
standing baptistry at the
west

12. Byzantine Dome construction
• The most distinctive feature was the domed roof. The
dome, which had always been a traditional feature in
the East, became the prevailing motif of Byzantine
architecture, which was a fusion of the domical
construction with the Classical columnar style.
• To allow a dome to rest above a square base, either of
two devices was used: the squinch (an arch in each of
the corners of a square base that transforms it into an
octagon) or the pendentive.
• Domes of various types were now placed over square
compartments by means of "pendentives," whereas in
Roman architecture domes were only used over circular
or polygonal structures.

13. • These domes were frequently constructed of
bricks or of some light porous stone, such as
pumice, or even of pottery, as at S. Vitale,
Ravenna.
• Byzantine domes and vaults were, it is believed,
constructed without temporary support or
"centering" by the simple use of large flat bricks,
and this is quite a distinct system probably
derived from Eastern methods.

14. Pendentive
Drum
Dome
Oculus

16. • Mystical quality of the light that floods the interior has fascinated visitors
for centuries. The canopy-like dome that also dominates the inside of the
church rides on a halo of light from windows in the dome's base.
• The windows create the illusion that the dome is resting on the light that
comes through them-like a "floating dome of heaven."
• Light is the mystic element that glitters in the mosaics, shines from the
marbles, and pervades spaces that cannot be defined. It seems to dissolve
material substance and transform it into an abstract spiritual vision.

17. • Windows were formed in the lower
portion of the dome which, in the
later period, was hoisted upon a
high "drum" - a feature which was
still further embellished in the
Renaissance period by the addition
of an external peristyle.
• The grouping of small domes or
semi-domes round the large central
dome was effective, and one of the
most remarkable peculiarities of
Byzantine churches was that the
forms of the vaults and domes were
visible externally, undisguised by
any timber roof; thus in the
Byzantine style the exterior closely
corresponds with the interior.

18. Materials Used in construction
• The system of construction in concrete and brickwork introduced by
the Romans was adopted by the Byzantines.
• The carcase (skeleton) of concrete and brickwork was first completed
and allowed to settle before the surface sheathing of unyielding
marble slabs was added, and this independence of the component
parts is characteristic of Byzantine construction.
• Brickwork, moreover lent itself externally to decorative patterns and
banding, and internally it was suitable for covering with marble,
mosaic, and fresco decoration. The ordinary bricks were like the
Roman, about an inch and a half in depth, and were laid on thick beds
of mortar.

19. • Brickwork necessitated special care in making
mortar, which was composed of lime and sand
with crushed pottery, tiles, or bricks, and much
of it remains as hard as that in the best buildings
of Rome, while the core of the wall was
sometimes of concrete, as in the Roman period.
• The decorative character of external facades
depended largely on the arrangement of the
facing bricks, which were not always laid
horizontally, but sometimes obliquely,
sometimes in the form of the meander fret,
sometimes in the chevron or herringbone
pattern, and in many other similar designs,
giving great variety to the facades.
• An attempt was also made to ornament the
rough brick exteriors by the use of stone bands
and decorative arches.
• Walls were sheeted internally with marble and
vaults and domes with coloured glass mosaics
on a golden background.

20. Features of Byzantine
Architecture
• Greek Roman and Oriental
elements in architecture and its
decoration.
• Greco-Roman Columns, arches,
vaults, domes over square
bases.
• Oriental (Eastern) Rich
ornamentation, rich use of
colour, mosaics.
• Poly chrome marble and stone
work Play of Light indoors .

21. Typical Byzantine Church

22. Hagia Sophia

23. • “Church of Holy Wisdom’’ chief church in Constantinople.
• Rebuilt by Justinian between A.D. 532-537 after Constantine's original was
burned down in a riot.
• Is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica. Later a mosque, and now a
museum in Istanbul, Turkey.
• From the date of its dedication in 360 until 453, it served as the cathedral
of Constantinople, except between 5204 and 5265, when it was converted
to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople
of the Western Crusader established Latin Empire.
• The building was a mosque from 29 May 5453 until 5934, when it was
secularized.
• It was opened as a museum on 5 February 5935.

24. • Architects were Isidore of Miletus
and Anthemius of Tralles
• Reconciled basilica and central
plans.
• Central dome 101 feet in diameter.
• Pendentives made dome appear
"suspended from by a chain from
heaven"
• At the dedication of the church,
Justinian reported exclaimed,
"Solomon I have outdone thee!"

27. • Byzantine churches are all distinguished by a great central square
space covered with a dome, supported by means of pendentives,
shown above in figures J and K. On each side extend short arms,
forming a Greek cross, which with the narthex and side galleries make
the plan nearly square.
• The narthex was placed within the main walls.

28. Byzantine churches compared to Early Christian Basilican churches
The essential difference in plan between a Byzantine church and an
Early Christian Basilican church are as follows:
• The leading thought in a Byzantine church is vertical, by the grouping
of domes round a principal central one, towards which the eye is
drawn.
• The leading idea in an Early Christian Basilica is horizontal, by means
of the long perspective of columns, which direct the eye towards the
apsidal termination.

29. Walls
• These were often constructed of
brick. Internally, all the oriental
love of magnificence was
developed, marble casing and
mosaic being applied to the walls;
hence a flat treatment and
absence of mouldings prevailed.
Externally the buildings were left
comparatively plain, although the
facade was sometimes relieved by
alternate rows of stone and brick,
in various colors.

30. Openings
• Doors and windows are semi-circular headed, but segmental and
horse-shoe arched openings are sometimes seen.

31. • The windows are small and grouped together.
• The universal employment of mosaic in
Byzantine churches, and the consequent
exclusion of painted glass, rendered the use of
such large windows as the Gothic architects
employed quite inadmissible, and in the bright
climate very much smaller openings sufficed to
admit the necessary light.
• The churches depend largely for light on the ring
of windows at the base of the dome, or in the
"drum," or circular base on which the dome is
sometimes raised, and on openings grouped in
the gable ends.
• Such windows, grouped in tiers within the semi-
circular arch beneath the dome, are a great
feature in the style.
• Portions of the windows are occasionally filled
with thin slabs of translucent marble.

33. Roofs
• The method of roofing these buildings was by a series of domes
formed in brick, stone, or concrete, with frequently no further
external covering.
• In H. Sophia the vaults are covered with sheets of lead, a quarter of
an inch thick, fastened to wood laths, resting on the vaults without
any wood roofing. Hollow earthenware was used in order to reduce
the thrust on the supporting wall.
• The Byzantines introduced the dome placed over a square or
octagonal plan by means of pendentives, a type not found in Roman
architecture.

35. Columns
• In the earlier buildings,
these were taken from
ancient structures. which
not being so numerous in
the East as in the
neighbourhood of Rome,
the supply was sooner
exhausted; and thus there
was an incentive to design
fresh ones.

36. • Capitals sometimes took a form derived from the Roman Ionic (C) or
Corinthian types (D) or consisted in the lower portion of a cube block with
rounded corners, over which was placed a deep abacus block, sometimes
called a "dosseret" (D & E).
• This represented the disused Classic architrave and aided in supporting the
springing of the arch. which was larger in area than the shaft of the
column. Further, an altered shape of capital was required to support the
arch, a convex form being best adapted. The surfaces of these capitals were
carved with incised foliage of sharp outline, having drilled eyes between
the leaves.
• Columns were used constructively, but were always subordinate features,
and often only introduced to support galleries, the massive piers alone
supporting the superstructure.

37. S.Mark, Venice
• 830 C. to receive the relics of S.Mark
• Based on the Justinian church of the
Holy Apostles, Constantinople
• 5 domes, each carried on 4 piers
• Narthex on each side of nave
• Baptistery on south side

39. How to recognize a Byzantine Church?
• Ground plan could be Basilican, cruciform, circular or polygonal.
• Main entrance from the west.
• Altar at the eastern end of the church.
• Principal building material was brick, arranged in decorative patterns
or covered in plaster.
• Roofs were either tiled or covered by sheets of lead.
• Brilliant mosaic work in the interiors (most recognizable feature).
• Exterior - rather plain, with austere entrances flanked by blind
arcades .
• Domes supported on pendentives.

40. • Predominant colours of mosaics - blue and gold.
• Few columns - unrestricted view of the interior mosaic art.
• Subject depicted - scenes from the holy Bible or the imperial court.
• Mosaics - made up of small cubes of marble or glass set in cement.
• Cement placed in layers, final layer fresco on the damp cement - cubes
placed in the cement following the outlines of the design.
• Last layer of cement applied unevenly, so that when the cubes were set in,
the faces of the different cubes were at angle to each other and reflected
light from one cube to another.
• Magical impression of light and depth conveyed by mosaics - heavenly
ambience.

41. • Columns and Capitals-Classical prototypes.
• Carvings of the capitals-deeply incised lines and drilled holes-strong
black and white effect.
• Dome-Structural feature (Over a square opening-Important
consequence in Renaissance Architecture.
• No human figures in Byzantine decorations.
• Decorative features-Scrolls, circles, other geometric forms and by
depicting leaves and flowers.
• Wind blown acanthus leaves were popular subject.

42. End of Module 2