BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE AND

HISTORY

Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire that emerged in

Medieval Europe in the mid-fourth century.

The heart of the Byzantine Empire was the ancient city of Constantinople which is
modern-day Istanbul, Turkey. With large influences from Classical Roman architecture and
Early Christian architecture, the architecture of the Byzantine period is famous for its
grandeur in church design.

Emperor Constantine I, also known as Constantine the Great, is regarded as one of the
most influential emperors of the Roman Empire.

Most notably, he is renowned for legalizing Christianity and uniting the Empire's West
with its East.

Constantine came into power at a time when the city of Rome, the capital of the Roman
Empire, was in ruins —financially, physically, and socially. Geographically, Rome was not
central enough to swiftly combat foreign invasions like cities in the East were. Therefore,
in 330 CE Constantine moved the capital of the Empire to the East, to "Nova Roma" (New
Rome). Later, Nova Roma was more famously renamed to Constantinople, after
Constantine himself, and today the capital is known as istanbul turkey

The moving of the capital to Constantinople quickly solved many of the problems
Constantine was facing. However, one of the most simplistic reasonings was to firmly
establish Christianity within the Empire. Rome was rich with pagan roots and its tangible
history, like temples and the Pantheon, which made any new Christian structures
immediate competition.

In Constantinople, Christianity flourished, and Constantine began to give Christianity a

physical presence in the city. He commenced a building program of churches across the
city, with the first being the Church of the Holy Apostles dedicated in 330 CE. Constantine
built structures in the Early Christian style that were exquisitely grand, lavishly decorated
and gilded, and constructed in a cross shape. Constantine's Christian structures
contrasted with the dilapidating, stark pagan temples back in Rome creating a sense of
uniqueness to this new, grand architecture. This Early Christian style would later heavily
influence Byzantine architecture.

Byzantine architecture is the eclectically styled architecture from the Byzantine Empire
with its roots in Constantinople. Shortly after Constantine's death in 337 CE, the West fell
in the fifth century CE and the East rose to higher power. This marked the establishment
of the Byzantine Empire (c. 395 CE to 1453 CE). The Byzantine Empire, also commonly
referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire and/or Byzantium, was the continuation of the
Roman Empire with Constantinople as its capital where Byzantines spoke Greek and were
devout Christians. This new empire remained one of the world's most economically
powerful, culturally dominant, and largest military forces for over a century.

Justinian and Byzantine Empire Architecture

While the Byzantine Empire had many great emperors, Justinian I (r. 527-565 CE) was one
of the most influential and beloved. Justinian wished to follow in the footsteps of
Constantine and unite the Empire under Christianity, and in order to do so, he furthered
the efforts that Constantine had established. Justinian developed his own building
program; he constructed Christian churches on every corner of the Byzantine Empire.

Although Justinian's building program is defined as Byzantine Architecture, the

architecture of the period shared many similarities with Early Christian architecture. Many
of the Byzantine architecture characteristics derived from Early Christian architecture
such as:

● The use of mosaics as a lavish method to decorate and adorn surfaces such as
walls, ceilings, floors, and panels.

● The focus on the church's apse, or the semicircular, domed alcove at the end of
the nave where the altar is located.

● The use of a clerestory, or the row of windows above the ground floor of the nave
in order to let light into the church.

Essentially, these were the main characteristics Early Christian architecture carried over
to Byzantine architecture. However, what separated the two was that everything about a
Byzantine church was grander, bigger, and more awe-inspiring. Byzantine architecture
utilized more of everything—more clerestory windows, mosaics, columns, domes, and it
was all done in a grandiose manner.
One of the finest surviving examples of Justinian's building program is the Church of San
Vitale in Ravenna, Italy (526-547 CE). It is similar in style to Justinian's Church of Saints
Sergius and Bacchus (532-536 CE) in Constantinople, but, over the centuries, the Church
of San Vitale had continually served as a reminder of Justinian's Christian mission in the
West. In 402 CE, Ravenna replaced Rome as the capital of the West, and it became an
increasingly Byzantine-esque capital. It was actually the Western churches that would
later avoid much of the Islamic conquest of the Empire and therefore become the greatest
testaments to Justinian's building program.