EARLY CHRISTIAN AND BYZANTINE

The Worshipping Community

Chapters 8+9, Nuttgens, Story of Architecture1

Santa Costanza Rome c.350

Chapter 8+9 Architectural History2

fig13

0

Catacombs off the Via Latina, Rome 4th century

Christians did not adopt Roman cremation but wanted to be buried, near an apostle’s grave

Chapter 8+9 Architectural History3

fig131

Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome 432-440Basilica plan with nave arcaded in classical

trabeated style: lintels rest on columns

Chapter 8+9 Architectural History4

fig132

Santa Sabina, Rome 422-430

Nave arcaded by arches resting on pillarsOpens up

the plan

Chapter 8+9 Architectural History5

fig133

Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem

Built by ConstantineReplaced apse at

the end by an octagonal chapel

Chapter 8+9 Architectural History6

fig134

7

Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem 326-333

Old Basilica of St. Peter, Rome c.330Replaced vaults with simple walls and

columns holding up wooden roofs

Chapter 8+9 Architectural History8fig135

Built over the graves of a saint – holy person

San Apolinare in Classe, Ravenna c. 534-549Free-standing campanile – bell towerEarliest example of a round tower

Chapter 8+9 Architectural History9

Mausoleum of Galla Placida, Ravenna 420 Interior burst of colourful Byzantine mosaics

Chapter 8+9 Architectural History10fig137

St. Simeon StylitesAmalgamation of congregational

basilica with centralized shrine

Chapter 8+9 Architectural History11

12

Europe530 AD

13

Europe 814 AD

14

San Vitale Ravenna Italy (532-548)

Entry

15

San Vitale Ravenna Italy (532-548)

Aerial View

16San Vitale, Ravenna (Interior)

17

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (532-537)

Plan and Satellite Photo

18

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Sections)

Longitudinal-Section

Cross-Section

19Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Isometric)

Cross-Section

20

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (532-537)External Views

21

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Ext. Overview)

22

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (532-537)Interior Views

23

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (532-537) Dome

24Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Details)

Monastery Church, Daphni

Each area developed its own version of Hagia Sophia

fig147

Hosios Loukas Monastery

The cross-plan is expressed on the exterior by separate pan-tiled roofs over the different sections

Byzantine Churches

Megistis Lavras - one of 20 monasteries on the island of Mount Athos

Mistra - fortified town contains the Palace to the last Byzantine emperor and was a centre of Byzantine scholarship

Church of St. Theodore

St. Mark’s, Venice

Holy Apostles in Constantinople

The magnificent facade has three tiers of semicircular shapes with 5 deep-set doorways between a two-tier paling of little pillars; five rounded gable ends with ogee eyebrows

Refugees from the barbarian hordes crossed the Adriatic lagoons to create Venice.

St. Mark’s is a Greek-cross, five-domed church based on Justinian’s Church of the

St. Mark’s VeniceLead covered domes

with garlic-bulb finials. Inside, it is entirely

sheathed in a molten skin of gold mosaic

Ani Cathedral, Armenia Ani, capital of Armenia, was

once the city of a thousand churches; now abandoned to grassland

Reconstruction

Ani

Cat

hedr

al, A

rmen

ia

Santa Sophia, Kiev The Russian

contribution to the Byzantine style is the onion dome which swells outward before curving inward.

Santa Sophia was originally built with one large dome and 12 smaller apostle domes but was elaborated with extra aisles and domes

St. Basil’s, MoscowBuilt by Ivan the

Terrible in 1550A cluster of

smaller domes surrounds the central dome

The many-coloured tiling was added in the 17th century

St.

Bas

il’s,

Mos

cow