Byzantine Architecture

Byzantine / Byzantine Revival Architecture

Byzantine

Byzantine Revival

Illustrated Church Features

Byzantine

The architecture of the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire which developed from Early Christian and late Roman antecedents in the 4th century.

After the Christian Church emerged from the catacombs, its first great edifice, begun by the Emperor Justinian, was Hagia Sophia (532-537) in Constantinople, the "New Rome" founded on the site of Byzantium by Constantine, the First Christian Emperor of the Roman Empire.

The style of Hagia Sophia, developing as it did midway between the ancient cultures of Greece. and Persia, partook of the characteristics of both. Ancient forms of architecture and decoration were used by the early Christian artists to develop what has now become Christian symbolism,

Byzantine church architecture is concerned almost exclusively with a decorated interior. The intention was to sculpt out a holy space where the congregation would be confronted with the true nature of the cosmos, cleared of all worldly distractions The mosaics (see below) and frescoes portraying the whole body of the church, from Christ downwards, have a dual purpose: they give inspiration to the worshipper and are windows to the spiritual world. From a mountain chapel to an urban church there is great conformity of design, with structure and decoration united to a single purpose.

The architectural and decorative style thus begun in Constantinople spread throughout the fourth, fifth and sixth century Christian world until the fall of Constantinople to the Turks (1453).

Church features

Each church has a covered porch (narthex) to the west and an altar behind the iconostasis in the eastern apse. The apse is often hidden from public view by an elaborate iconostasis screen, through whose doors only the clergy are admitted.

The nave typically has three aisles with the dome above the central square space.

Frescoes and mosaics in churches' interiors were organized according to a standard scheme. Symbolically, images descended from heaven (Christ Pantokrator in the dome) to earth (the saints on the lowest level). The Virgin was shown in the semi-dome of the apse, with the fathers of the church below her.

The side walls are decorated registers or formal placements. On the lowest level stand life-size portrayals of the saints, their heads illuminated with haloes. More complex scenes portraying incidents from the Gospels or or the Day of Judgment fill the upper walls and vaults.

Examples:

Illustration above at left: Russian Orthodox Church, Geneva, Switzerland

Agios Nectarios Monastery on the Island of Aegina, Greece

Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Hydra, Greece

The Monastery of Barlaam, Greece

Cemetery, Olympia, Greece

The New Cathedral of Saint Andrew, Patra, Greece

Byzantine Revival
Second half of the 19th century

The re-use of Byzantine forms in the second half of the 19th cent., typically in churches,

Features:

Multiple domes
Round-arched windows
Ample decoration

Examples from Buffalo architecture:

Illustration above on right: First Presbyterian Church

Illustrated Church Features

Apse
The recess, usually semicircular, at the end of a Roman basilica or a Christian church.
Source: Church in the Olympia Cemetery

Basilica
In Roman architecture, a public building for assemblies, especially tribunals, rectangular in plan, entered on a long side. In Christian architecture, an early church somewhat resembling the Roman basilica; usually entered from one end with an apse at the other creating an axial plan.

Dome
A hemispherical roof or vault.
Symbolically filled by the figure of Christ in Judgment, the Pantokrator. Choirs of angels swirl around Him, and outside them stand the Old testament prophets.
Source: Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Hydra

Fresco
The art of painting on fresh, moist plaster with pigments dissolved in water.
Source: Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Hydra

Icon
A representation or picture of a sacred or sanctified personage, traditional to the Eastern Church.
Source: Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Hydra

Iconostasis
A screen in Byzantine churches separating the sanctuary from the nave and pierced by three doors, originally a lattice of columns joined by a decorated parapet and coping. Since the 14th-15th c. it has become a wooden or stone wall covered with icons, hence the name.
Source: Church in the Olympia Cemetery. Note that the iconostasis is carved wood without icons.

Mosaic
A picture or decorative design made by setting small colored pieces, as of stone or tile, into a surface.
Source: Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Hydra

Narthex
An entrance hall leading to the nave of a church

Nave
The central aisle of a church
Source: The New Cathedral of Saint Andrew at Patra

Pantokrator
Christ in Judgment
Source: The New Cathedral of Saint Andrew at Patra

Sanctuary
A sacred place, such as a church, temple or mosque.

Vault
An arched ceiling or roof of stone or brick, sometimes imitated in wood or plaster.

	Apse The recess, usually semicircular, at the end of a Roman basilica or a Christian church. Source: Church in the Olympia Cemetery
	Basilica In Roman architecture, a public building for assemblies, especially tribunals, rectangular in plan, entered on a long side. In Christian architecture, an early church somewhat resembling the Roman basilica; usually entered from one end with an apse at the other creating an axial plan.
	Dome A hemispherical roof or vault. Symbolically filled by the figure of Christ in Judgment, the Pantokrator. Choirs of angels swirl around Him, and outside them stand the Old testament prophets. Source: Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Hydra
	Fresco The art of painting on fresh, moist plaster with pigments dissolved in water. Source: Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Hydra
	Icon A representation or picture of a sacred or sanctified personage, traditional to the Eastern Church. Source: Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Hydra
	Iconostasis A screen in Byzantine churches separating the sanctuary from the nave and pierced by three doors, originally a lattice of columns joined by a decorated parapet and coping. Since the 14th-15th c. it has become a wooden or stone wall covered with icons, hence the name. Source: Church in the Olympia Cemetery. Note that the iconostasis is carved wood without icons.
	Mosaic A picture or decorative design made by setting small colored pieces, as of stone or tile, into a surface. Source: Monastery of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Hydra
	Narthex An entrance hall leading to the nave of a church
	Nave The central aisle of a church Source: The New Cathedral of Saint Andrew at Patra
	Pantokrator Christ in Judgment Source: The New Cathedral of Saint Andrew at Patra
	Sanctuary A sacred place, such as a church, temple or mosque. Vault An arched ceiling or roof of stone or brick, sometimes imitated in wood or plaster.