Byzantine Art

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San Vitale

526-547 CE 

Ravenna, Italy 

Early Byzantine Europe

Brick, marble, and stone veneer; mosaic 

Patron: Emperor Justinian 

Christianity is only legal religion

Emperor Justinian conquered territory

Central plan (not axial plan), octagon

Ambulatory: covered walkway 

Choir: central space (roof at its tallest) 

Exedra: rooms that stick out 

Apse: a large semicircular or polygonal recess in a church, arched or with a domed roof, typically at the eastern end, and usually containing the altar

Hagia Sophia 

532-537 CE 

Constantinople, Turkey

Architects: Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus (Greeks)

Brick and ceramic with stone and mosaic veneer 

Patron: Emperor Justinian 

Minarets: a tall, thin tower of a mosque with a balcony from which the people are called to prayer   

Domed basilica: circle resting on a square 

Pendentive-transition for a dome (circle) on a square 

Squinch: transition for a dome on semi circle or circle 

Iconoclasm: image breaking

Theotokos Mosaic (mosaic in Hagia Sophia)

867 CE 

Aspe of the Hagia Sophia (western wall of the Hagia Sophia) 

Deesis mosaic (another mosaic in Hagia Sophia including Christ with the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist)