Byzantine Architecture

Centralized church plan,
surrounding aisles,
pendentives & dome on pendentives,
complex interior structure with lighting and decoration

MAIN FEATURES (Byzantine Architecture)

PENDENTIVE DOME

dome over square plan

Byzantine Architectural Shift

End of 5th century AD, architectural innovation shifted to Byzantine Empire, marks transition from early Christian to Byzantine civilization; Emperor Justinian led evolution of style; discovery of groin vault

DOMES & DOMES ON PENDENTIVES

derived by trimming dome sides over square plan; transfers dome load to four corners; allows dome on square buildings; can have additional domes and cylinders with windows for light effects

religious ritual
symbolism
construction technology

PRINCIPLES SHAPING EARLY CHRISTIAN & BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE

St. Vitale, Ravenna

Important Byzantine monument; prototype for Hagia Sophia; octagonal plan; domed octagonal core surrounded by ambulatory and gallery; apse extends from core; domed roof raised on drum for height and light; 17m diameter, 30m height

17 dia m & 30m height

DIMENSIONS OF St. Vitale, Ravenna

St. Sergius and Bacchus, Constantinople

Palace church (527-536 AD); based on four-lobed early Christian plan; octagonal core in loose rectangle; dome covered central space with true pendentive dome; experimental before Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia

Church of Holy Wisdom; masterpiece of architecture; Emperor Justinian; central dome 31m diameter; pendentives for dome on square base; combination of centralized and longitudinal structure; seat of Orthodox patriarch; converted to mosque in 1453; museum since 1934

Santa Sophia, Kiev
Saint Basils, Moscow
Monastery of Hosios Loukas,
Church of Graenica Yugoslavia

Prominent Byzantine Structures

Santa Sophia, Kiev

Named after Hagia Sophia; foundations laid 1037; 37m x 55m; 5 naves, 5 apses, 133 domes; surrounded by two-tier galleries; now architectural and historical museum

ST. BASILS, MOSCOW

Commissioned by Ivan the Terrible of Russia, built as capital' s main parish church. instead of interior lighting and decoration, this structure replaced it with brilliant colors in the exterior

MONASTERY OF HOSIOS LOUKAS

complex plan with 8 piers carrying large central dome

ST. MARKS, VENICE

church based on a Greek cross floor plan, based on part on the Hagia and the Basilica of the Apostles, both in Constantinople