Early Christian Architecture

Introduction
During 4th and 5th centuries, Christianity was the dominant religion of the
Mediterranean world.

Christianity had settle its relation to the political order with the worship of the
Roman emperor.

In 323 AD, Christianity become an official religion and its has grown so much

Emperor Diocletian tried to destroy and he was failed;

Constantine accepted and created a Christian empire.

The conversion of Constantine assured the church a privileged place in society,

and it became easier to be a Christian than not to be one.

As a result, Christians began to feel that standards of Christian conduct and to

follow the full-time profession of Christian discipline as a monk.
With the hermit St. Anthony, Christian monasticism spread too many parts of the
Christian empire during the 4th and 5th centuries.
Not only in Greek and Latin portions, but also eastern borders, far into Asia, Christian
monks devoted themselves to prayer, asceticism, and service.
Early Christian Art & Architecture:
Early Christian Art and Architecture produced between the 3rd and 7th
centuries for the Christian church.

Early Christianity art same artistic media of surrounding pagan culture.

The pagan art included fresco, mosaics, sculpture and manuscript

illumination.

Early Christian art used not only Roman forms but also Roman styles.

Most of the early Christian art and architecture is (painting and sculpture)

It was derived from Roman art, appropriately stylized to suit the

spirituality of the religion.

An image of was created to visualize Christian concepts.

For example, Christ was symbolized by a cross.

Christ the Good Shepherd was often shown as a beardless young man.
Early Christian Architecture:
The development of Early Christian architecture based on
Christianity widely accepted as a state religion in Rome;
It was necessary for architecture to respond to the demands of the
religion for worship space.
Mode of worship was the most important determinant of the form of the
church.
The architectural requirements include:

 A path for processional entry;

 An exit of the clergy (place of religious service);
 An altar area, where the clergy celebrate mass;
 A space for the segregation of the clergy from the congregation
during procession and communion;
 Burial space.
Early Christian Church Architecture:
In early Christian church architecture are includes two types:

Basilica;
Centralized
Basilica;
It was one type of early churches architecture, which was generally simple and
functional in their design.
The emphasis on the act of Christian worship.
The architecture of the church that developed was not a completely new style,
but the use of available Roman forms to satisfy a new program need.
The form chosen for the early church was the Roman basilica.
The most common form of the early churches had a rectangular hall with a
timber trussed roof.
It also
The had one or
centralized two isles
church, on eachor
of circular side of a central
polygonal plan,nave;
with one large central
space,
An apseusually with
at one endafacing
dome principal
overhead.
entrance located at the other end.
Early Christian Architecture:
Centralized:
The rectangular basilica was not the only form adopted for the early
church •
Alternative more centralized plans, with a focus on a central vertical axis
rather than a longitudinal horizontal one were also adopted
The centralized churches were of two broad types includes

There were the completely circular church.

These had a circular or octagonal space surrounded by an ambulatory
Examples of these include Saint ConstanzaRome,
Early Christian Architecture Characters:
The establishment /character of Christianity architecture is came the
sources of;
The Greek temple
The Roman public building
The private Roman house
The synagogue (Jewish congregation)
Early Christian Basilica Architecture Details:
The basilica is an ancient Roman building type on which early Christian
church designs were based.
Basilicas have a long central hall (nave) separated from side aisles by
rows of columns.
At the end of the nave is a raised platform (called bema), where an altar
typically stood.
Behind the bema is a semicircular apse.
People enter the basilica through a roofed porch, or narthex, that faces
onto a square courtyard called an atrium.
The roofed walkways on the side of the atrium form an ambulatory.
The early basilicas are constructed with timber.
Early Christian Basilica Architecture Details:
Walls

These were still constructed according to the Roman methods,

Mosaic was used internally for decoration
Sometimes externally on the west facades for decoration

Openings

Semicircular arch to span Doors, windows and niches;

Small window, the nave being in the clerestory high
 Early Christian Architecture
Architectural character
Roofs
• Wooden roofs ,covered the central nave,
• King and Queen post trusses
• were ceiled in some ornamental manner
• The side aisles in the churches were occasionally vaulted
• the apse was usually domed and lined with mosaic
 Early Christian Architecture
Architectural character
Columns
• often of different design and size
• Use the materials and ornaments which had been left by the pagan Roman.
• Spaced closely

St. Sabina 422-32ad, interior view

 Early Christian Architecture
Architectural character
• churches built on the model of the old Roman basilicas
• Classical rotunda was used for baptisteries and funerary monuments
• Interiority is a distinguishing characteristic
• circular church was originally based on the ancient tholos (used as a funerary
structure)

administrative seat

Roman basilica ,Basilica Ulpia, Rome (AD 113) Early Christian church St. Peters , Rome(AD 330)
 Early Christian Architecture
Architectural character
• Propylaeum- the entrance
• Atrium or forecourt – with a fountain or well In the centre of the atrium
• Narthex - place for penitents - entrance hall of church

Old S. Peter (A.D. 330)

 Early Christian Architecture
Architectural character
• The nave - lighted by a clerestory windows-had Aisles
• from the entrance to the apse
• Galleries-for the use of women
• sometimes placed over the Aisles
• Apse –(rounded projection) the sanctuary ,
contained the "cathedra" ( throne of the bishop )and the altar

St. Sabina 422-32ad, interior view

 Early Christian Architecture
Architectural character
• A transept, called the " bema” , the projected wing
• Altar -elevated from the nave floor, demarking the choir area

S. Clemente, Rome,5th century A.D, rebuilt in 11th century

 Early Christian Architecture
The old Basilican Church of St. Peter (A.D. 330)
• it does not exist today
• Around AD 320 by Emperor Constantine
• on the site where the apostle St. Peter was buried
• Apse –in roman basilica an image of the Emperor
-In early Christian church the "cathedra" or throne of the bishop and the altar
Early Christian Architecture
The old Basilican Church of St. Peter (A.D. 330)
• Basilica style plan, as the Basilica of Maxentius
• orients the visitor in a strongly axial direction down the nave
• terminating in five arches the central of which was called the
Arch of Triumph

triumphal arch.

Basilica of Maxentius, around AD 306

Old S. Peter (A.D. 330)plan
 Early Christian Architecture
The old Basilican Church of St. Peter (A.D. 330)
• Plan based on Latin cross
• The bema–raised platform reserved for the clergy which forms the transept
• Mosaic pictures and fresco paintings (before the plaster is dry)
• nave elevation usually is composed of a nave colonnade or arcade and clerestory.
Early Christian Centralized Architecture Details:
Baptisteries were also built in centralized form.
They were either circular or polygonal, with the object of:

The veneration (the baptismal font);

The holy place—visible to the faithful from the cloister or aisle circling the site.

A typical baptistery is that found at Galla Placidia (5th century) in

Ravenna Italy.
The 5th-century Galla Placidia in Ravenna, Italy, is an Early Christian
mausoleum built in the form of a Greek, or equal-armed cross.
This type of centralized plan, borrowed from classical architecture,
usually features a round or polygonal building topped with a dome.
The structures were used for Early Christian mausoleums, baptisteries,
and martyr shrines.
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
Introduction:
The ancient Greek town of Byzantium, which the Roman emperor
Constantine the Great chose in AD 330 as his new capital
Constantine established his Eastern Roman Empire
Developed at Byzantium (renamed Constantinople by Constantine) the
new capital at present Istanbul ,Turke

Political division ( east and west) also followed by a separation of

churches east (byzantine ) orthodox
Byzantine Art & Architecture:
Byzantine Art:
Byzantine art preferred stylized imagery to naturalistic representation.
The aim of their art was to inspire a sense of wonder and admiration
(appreciation) for the church.
In this way, their use of graceful, floating figures, and golden tesserae (mosaic)
emphasized the other worldliness of the religious subjects.
The Hellenistic (old Greek) heritage was never entirely lost to Byzantine art but
continued to be a source of inspiration and renewal.
In this process, the classical idiom was drastically modified in order to express
the transcendental character of the Orthodox faith.

Byzantine Architecture:
Byzantine architects were eclectic (choosing from various source);
At first drawing heavily on Roman temple features.
Their combination of the basilica and symmetrical central-plan (circular or
polygonal) religious structures
It leads to create in the characteristic Byzantine Greek-cross-plan church, with a
square central mass and four arms of equal length.
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
Mosaics were the favored medium for the interior adornment of Byzantine
churches.
The small cubes that composed mosaics were made of colored glass
were overlaid with gold leaf.
The luminous effects of the mosaics spread over the walls and vaults of
the interior, were well adapted to express the mystic character of
Orthodox Christianity.
The great architectural achievement in Byzantine architecture is
development of dome over a square base and square corners has
“squinch arch”
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
Architectural Character
Byzantine
•Verticality
• Grouped around the central space
• smaller domes around the large dome
Early Christian
• horizontality
•long perspective of the column
•direct the eye towards the apsidal termination.

St. Mark, Venice AD 1042-1085

BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
Architectural Character
• Different pattern of Bricks contributed greatly to the decoration of the exterior
• laid obliquely, chevron or herring-bone pattern
• Sometimes in the form of the meander fret
• giving great richness and variety to the facades

monastery of Hosίos Loukas,

Chevron pattern herringbone pattern meander fret Greece, early 1000s
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
Architectural Character
• Domes were now placed over squares
• By means of "pendentives”
• Sometimes the domes were constructed of pottery
• In vaulting porous stones, especially pumice, were used
• Tunnel vault and the dome were visible externally

St. Mark, Venice, AD 1042-1085 pendentive

BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
Architectural Character
• The forms of the vaults and arches to appear as architectural features
• Classic orders were dispensed with, and the semicircular arches made to rest
directly on columns
• Response to the needs of the Eastern, or Orthodox, church.
• The luminous effects of the mosaics, spread over the walls and vaults of the
interior to express the mystic character of Orthodox Christianity

S. Sophia, Istanbul ,Turkey A.D. 532-537

BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
Architectural Character
• The extensive use of rich marbles and mosaics caused a flat treatment
• With an absence of moldings, cornices and modillions
• Capitals sometimes took a form derived from the Ionic or Corinthian
• The entire dome is made up of a series of tiny niche arches

modillions Byzantine capital

BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
S. Sophia, Constantinople,
• By order of Justinian, in A.D. 532-537
• By Anthemius of Tralles and Isodorus of Miletus
• A central space surrounded by four massive piers
• Piers connected above by semicircular arches

Justinian I
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
S. Sophia, Constantinople,
• aisles over 15.2m feet wide, in two stories
• the upper story being for women, approached by stone steps and ramps
• aisles bring the main building approximately to a square
• The narthex for catechumen
• west is the outer narthex and atrium
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
S. Sophia, Constantinople,
• The thrust of the dome is countered by the two half-domes opening east and west
• Huge pendentives to the central dome
• great piers supporting the dome are of stones
• the rest is brick work
• molded bronze rings encircle the column shafts at their junction with the base and capital
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
S. Sophia, Constantinople,
• two south piers by the arcades of the aisles and galleries and the tympana above them
• Dome is covered by lead resting on wooden battens placed on the brick domes
• creating the impression that space expands in all directions and that the dome floats
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
S. Sophia, Constantinople,
• The smaller domes cover exedrae
• the row of windows along the drum of the dome
• the domes -brick not radiate from the center

NE-Elevation Upper gallery

BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
S. Vitale, Ravenna, Italy
• Built between AD 526 and 547
• Octagonal plan, Centralized church
• The dome is composed of hollow earthen pots
• Small arches as pendentives
• Wooden roof covering the dome
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
St. Mark, Venice
• AD 1042-1085
• About 60x60m overall
• plan of a Greek cross surmounted by domes
• The plan has a central dome 13m diameter and a dome over each arm of the cross
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
St. Mark, Venice
• Wooden cupolas are added later
• richly colored glass mosaic
• the gallery arcade connects the piers on either
• Equal richness of the exterior to the interior
• Narthex extended around the each side of the nave
Thank Q