Introduction to Byzantine Architecture

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Table of Contents

 Characteristics
 Construction and Engineering Techniques
 Why This Style Is Called Byzantine
 Byzantine Architecture, East and West
 Influences

By
Jackie Craven
Updated on July 23, 2019

Byzantine architecture is a style of building that flourished under the rule of

Roman Emperor Justinian between A.D. 527 and 565. In addition to extensive
use of interior mosaics, its defining characteristic is a heightened dome, the
result of the latest sixth-century engineering techniques. Byzantine
architecture dominated the eastern half of the Roman Empire during the reign
of Justinian the Great, but the influences spanned centuries, from 330 until
the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and on into today's church architecture.

Much of what we call Byzantine architecture today is ecclesiastical, meaning

church-related. Christianity began to flourish after the Edict of Milan in A.D.
313 when Roman Emperor Constantine (c. 285-337) announced his own
Christianity, which legitimized the new religion; Christians would no longer be
routinely persecuted. With religious freedom, Christians could worship openly
and without threat, and the young religion spread rapidly. The need for places
of worship expanded as did the need for new approaches to building design.
Hagia Irene (also known as Haghia Eirene or Aya İrini Kilisesi) in Istanbul,
Turkey is the site of the first Christian church ordered built by Constantine in
the 4th Century. Many of these early churches were destroyed but rebuilt atop
their rubble by Emperor Justinian.

Hagia Irene or Aya İrini Kilisesi in Istanbul, Turkey. Salvator Barki/Getty Images (cropped)

Characteristics of Byzantine Architecture

Original Byzantine churches are square-shaped with a central floor plan. They
were designed after the Greek cross or crux immissa quadrata instead of the
Latin crux ordinaria of Gothic cathedrals. Early Byzantine churches might
have one, dominant center dome of great height, rising from a square base on
half-dome pillars or pendentives.

Byzantine architecture blended Western and Middle Eastern architectural

details and ways of doing things. Builders renounced the Classical Order in
favor of columns with decorative impost blocks inspired by Middle Eastern
designs. Mosaic decorations and narratives were common. For example, the
mosaic image of Justinian in the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy
honors the Roman Christian Emporer.

The early Middle Ages was also a time of experimentation with building
methods and materials. Clerestory windows became a popular way for natural
light and ventilation to enter an otherwise dark and smokey building.

Mosaic of the Roman Christian Emporer Justinian I Flanked by Military and Clergy. CM Dixon/Print
Collector/Getty Images

Construction and Engineering Techniques

How do you put a huge, round dome onto a square-shaped room? Byzantine
builders experimented with different methods of construction; when ceilings
fell in, they tried something else. Art historian Hans Buchwald writes that:

Sophisticated methods for assuring structural solidity were developed, such as

well-built deep foundations, wooden tie-rod systems in vaults, walls and
foundations, and metal chains placed horizontally inside masonry.
Byzantine engineers turned to the structural use of pendentives to elevate
domes to new heights. With this technique, a dome can rise from the top of a
vertical cylinder, like a silo, giving height to the dome. Like the Hagia Irene,
the exterior of the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy is characterized by
the silo-like pendentive construction. A good example of pendentives seen
from the inside is the interior of the Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya) in Istanbul, one
of the most famous Byzantine structures in the world.

Inside the Hagia Sophia. Frédéric Soltan/Corbis via Getty Images

Why This Style Is Called Byzantine

In the year 330, Emperor Constantine relocated the capital of the Roman
Empire from Rome to a part of Turkey known as Byzantium (present-day
Istanbul). Constantine renamed Byzantium to be called Constantinople after
himself. What we call the Byzantine Empire is really the Eastern Roman
Empire.

The Roman Empire was divided into East and West. While the Eastern Empire
was centered in Byzantium, the Western Roman Empire was centered in
Ravenna, in northeast Italy, which is why Ravenna is a well-known tourist
destination for Byzantine architecture. The Western Roman Empire in
Ravenna fell in 476 but was recaptured in 540 by Justinian. Justinian's
Byzantine influence is still felt in Ravenna.

Byzantine Architecture, East and West

The Roman Emperor Flavius Justinianus was not born in Rome, but in
Tauresium, Macedonia in Eastern Europe in about 482. His place of birth is a
major factor why the reign of the Christian Emperor changed the shape of
architecture between 527 and 565. Justinian was a ruler of Rome, but he grew
up with the people of the Eastern world. He was a Christian leader uniting two
worlds; construction methods and architectural details were passed back and
forth. Buildings that previously had been built similar to those in Rome took
on more local, Eastern influences.

Justinian reconquered the Western Roman Empire, which had been taken
over by barbarians, and Eastern architectural traditions were introduced to
the West. A mosaic image of Justinian from the Basilica of San Vitale, in
Ravenna, Italy is a testament to the Byzantine influence on the Ravenna area,
which remains a great center of Italian Byzantine architecture.

Byzantine Architecture Influences

Architects and builders learned from each of their projects and from each
other. Churches built in the East influenced the construction and design
of sacred architecture built in many places. For example, the Byzantine Church
of the Saints Sergius and Bacchus, a small Istanbul experiment from the year
530, influenced the final design of the most famous Byzantine Church, the
grand Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya), which itself inspired the creation of Blue
Mosque of Constantinople in 1616.

The Eastern Roman Empire profoundly influenced early Islamic architecture,

including the Umayyad Great Mosque of Damascus and the Dome of the Rock
in Jerusalem. In Orthodox countries such as Russia and Romania, Eastern
Byzantine architecture persisted, as shown by the 15th century Assumption
Cathedral in Moscow. Byzantine architecture in the Western Roman Empire,
including in Italian towns such as Ravenna, more quickly gave way to
Romanesque and Gothic architecture, and the towering spire replaced the high
domes of early Christian architecture.

Architectural periods have no borders, especially during what is known as

the Middle Ages. The period of Medieval architecture from roughly 500 to
1500 is sometimes called Middle and Late Byzantine. Ultimately, names are
less important than influence, and architecture has always been subject to the
next great idea. The impact of Justinian's rule was felt long after his death in
A.D. 565.

Source
 Buchwald, Hans. The Dictionary of Art, Volume 9. Jane Turner, ed.
Macmillan, 1996, p. 524