Architectural History: Early Christian to Renaissance

Twenty vocabulary flashcards covering key architectural terms, buildings, and concepts from Early Christian through Renaissance periods.

Early Christian Art

Art produced between the 1st–4th centuries AD, linked to Roman models and created while Christianity spread secretly before its legalization.

Catacombs

Underground burial galleries used by early Christians—later pilgrimage sites—such as the Catacomb of San Gennaro in Naples.

Basilica (Christian)

A Roman civic hall type adapted for Christian worship after 313 AD, featuring a nave, side aisles, and an apse.

Rectangular Basilica

Western Roman basilica form: long rectangular hall with high timber-roofed nave, lower side aisles, and semicircular apse.

Central Plan Basilica

Byzantine church type organized around a central space—often domed—exemplified in Constantinople and Ravenna.

Domed Basilica

6th-century evolution of the basilica covered by vaults or domes; Hagia Sophia is the grandest example.

Cruciform (Greek Cross) Basilica

Square Byzantine church with a dome on four piers; plan forms an equal-armed cross, as in St Mark’s, Venice.

Ravenna

Italian city (4th–6th c.) that served as Western center of Byzantine-influenced architecture and mosaics.

Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

Ravenna tomb (c. 430 AD) with rich mosaics; shows early Byzantine central-plan influence.

Hagia Sophia

Domed basilica in Istanbul (532–537 AD) by Anthemius & Isidore; milestone for pendentive-supported 31 m dome (55 m high).

Pendentive

Curved triangular masonry element that transitions from a square base to support a circular dome—perfected at Hagia Sophia.

Palatine Chapel, Aachen

Octagonal Carolingian palace chapel (792–805) built for Charlemagne; modelled on Byzantine central-plan forms.

Romanesque Architecture

European (1000–1200) style marked by thick stone walls, round arches, barrel or groin vaults, and fortress-like churches.

Barrel Vault

Continuous semicircular vault used widely in Romanesque buildings to roof naves with heavy stone construction.

Gothic Architecture

Style (c. 1150–1425) featuring pointed arches, ribbed vaults, flying buttresses, and large stained-glass windows.

Flying Buttress

Exterior arched support transferring roof thrust to a pier, allowing Gothic walls to open for large windows.

Pointed Arch

Two-centered arch forming a point at the apex; key Gothic element enabling greater height and load control.

Renaissance Architecture

15th-16th-century revival of classical proportion, symmetry, and orders, initiated in Florence by Brunelleschi.

Ospedale degli Innocenti

Florence foundling hospital (1419–45) by Brunelleschi; first public Renaissance building with orderly arcade and proportional design.

St Peter’s Basilica (New)

Vatican church (1506–1626) begun by Bramante, redesigned by Michelangelo; colossal domed shrine over Peter’s tomb.