EARLY CHRISTIAN

and
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
 INTRODUCTION

• The important task of European

Architecture is the church for
centuries this is why centrally
located churches dominate
European towns.
• In contrast to Greek and Roman
towns’ having complex
appearance, churches are
significant character of
Christian towns.
• The concept of centre and path
is a symbolic spatial
relationship for the building of
churches and it is the basic
important character of Early
Christian Architecture.
• Central and longitudinal spaces
of Roman Architecture were
taken over by Early Christian
Architecture thus most early
churches shows the
combination of longitudinality
and centralization.
• The early churches are
understood as interior worlds.
• Summary attitude of the
exterior and the articulation of
the interior emphasize this
character.
• Early Christian man didn’t obtain security by means of
abstraction from natural,human or historical
phenomena.Thus christian existential space symbolizes
a promise and a process of redemption, which are
concretized as a centre and a path.
LANDSCAPE AND SETTLEMENT
• The capital of the Roman Empire was moved to
Constantinople which was where Asia and Europe
meet in 330.
• In contrast to Rome’s architectural forms being a
gravity and plastic power but Constantinople is the
city of silhouettes, contours and surfaces.
• In the first half of the 6th century ,Emperor Justinian
development was initiated and this gave the city its
characteristic skyline dominated by the innumerable
domes of churches.
• Although constantine repeated the
properties of roma ,the city of
constantinople caracterised by
topological enclosure rather than
geometrical organisation of roman
settlements.
 CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE
BEFORE 313
• One of the earliest known
examples of an early place
of Christian worship is
located in Dura Europus
• Among the typical buildings
of this provincial town,
archaeologist have
identified a Jewish
synagogue and a house
that had been converted
into a Christian Church.
• This house church, which was in use between 240 and 250, was a
typical modest dwelling in Dura Europus. It was located at the edge
of town near the defensive wall. It was organized around a courtyard
open to the sky and, typical of the urban houses of Mesopotamian,
• The entrance was from a narrow street, through a small vestibule
that opened into the courtyard from which all rooms were
accessible. In the remodeling to accommodate Christian services,
the wall between two rooms on the south side of the courtyard was
removed to provide one large space (16 by 43 feet) capable of
seating an assembly of about fifty people. A dias, or platform for the
person in charge, was located on the east wall and a door behind
the dias opened into a room that was probably used as a sacristy.
• Entrance to this assembly space was directly from the
courtyard and another door was cut into the wall to give
access to the room on the west side of the courtyard. Slightly
smaller (13 by 23 ft) than the assembly room, this space,
which would accommodate approximately 30 persons, was
probably where the catechumens were assembled to hear, but
not see, the Mass of the Faithful, and where they would
receive instruction and prepare themselves for baptism.
Another door opened from this room into a small baptistery,
which was located in a small room in the northwest corner of
the house. The baptistery was surmounted by a canopy and
the room contained murals that focused on concepts of
original sin, salvation, and resurrection; all of which were
closely linked in early Christian thought to baptism.
 CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE
AFTER 313
The Basilican Church
• The two primary building types of Early
Christian architecture are the basilica,
which provides a place of assembly
and worship and was organized about
a longitudinal axis and the martyrium,
which provides a place for the
veneration of Christians who died for
their faith and was traditionally
organized about a central point rather
than an axis. Actually, it was not quite
this simple because longitudinal plans
sometimes contained significant
centrally planned components and not
all centrally planned buildings were
martyria; some were mausoleums and
some were baptisteries.
• There is a great variety
among buildings
classified as Early
Christian basilicas. In
general, however, the
characteristics they
share place them in a
category that
architectural historians
can easily identify as
“Early Christian.”

Old St. Peter’s Interior

• (1) interior spaces accommodated the assembly of a larger group
of people but, at the same time, provided separate spaces for
clergy, laity, and catechumens—those receiving instruction but
were not yet members of the faithful; (2) a tall central space, or
nave, flanked by one or two side aisles creating a cross section
through the nave and side aisles that constitutes the “basilican”
form, which was accepted as the norm in Christian church
architecture for the next 1500 years; (3) clerestory windows that
introduced light into the nave through the wall above the roof of the
side aisles; (4) an apse located at the end of the nave providing an
area set aside for the bishop and the clergy; (5) an atrium, or open
courtyard, located at the entrance to the building and containing a
fountain for ritual purification before entering the building: (6)
simple, unadorned architectural exteriors, the forms of which
directly reflect the interior spaces; and (7) highly decorated interiors
of rich materials and frescoes and mosaics depicting Christian
themes to the extent that one becomes less and less aware of the
architectural enclosure and more and more aware of the Christian
mysteries interpreted in the art.
S. Apollinare
The Central-Plan Church

• After the early

churches, centralizing
tendencies can be seen
in 6th century in the
major ecclesiastical
buildings.
 SANTA COSTANZA

Plan

Santa Costanza in Rome is not only a good

example of the centrally planned martyria, it is
also one of the only Constantinian Churches
that has survived essentially as built in the
fourth century
• The building, which was originally encircled by an open colonnade
which carried a barrel vault,8 has a round, domed central room
which rises from an arcade carried by twelve pairs of composite
columns supporting elaborate impost blocks. This central space is
flooded with light from twelve large clerestory windows, in contrast
to the dark, barrel-vaulted ambulatory that encircles it. Lavish
materials, light, and color combined to focus more on the visual
impression of the space than on the architectural structure.
• The design of Santa Costanza includes some subtleties that are
easily overlooked. For example the arches in the main axes of the
central room are just slightly wider and higher than the other arches,
and those on the longitudinal axis are again slightly wider and
higher than the arches on the transverse axis. The use of similar
devices to identify longitudinal and transverse axes in Christian
buildings becomes more pronounced in later periods as the
theologians and architects debate the question of longitudinal axis
versus central point as the architecturally organizing idea.
S.COSTANZA,ROME3 view of the interior

S.COSTANZA,ROME S.COSTANZA,ROME‘
ambulatory mosaics 'traditio legic''mosaics in
including portraits of opposing half dome
Constantia and husband niche vaults
S.COSTANZA,ROME ambulatory mosaics including
Gallus portraits of Constantia and husband Gallus
 SANTA SABINA

Santa Sabina,5 built between 422 and 432, is a good example of

the mature designs that followed the early Constantinian
experiments.
• The plan is very simple: a nave accompanied by one aisle on each side and
a deep, spacious apse. The nave is relatively tall, and the slender
proportions give the interior a new lightness and elegance. … The nave is
flooded with by light from very large arched clerestory windows. As a result
the aisles, which originally were windowless, were quite dark. …
Architectural form, illumination, and decoration present a convincing
aesthetic totality in the interior of Santa Sabina.
• In Santa Sabina, it is Christ who is the light of the world; and the light which
floods the interior through the large clerestory windows is of decisive
importance for the character of the space. The semi-dark aisles below give
the luminous upper part of the church a heavenly appearance. We see,
thus, how the basilica section which originally was a practical device,
invented to give light to the central part of an interior, had became a
symbolic form which expresses the transcendence and grace of God. From
the exterior only the row of large clerestory windows indicates the role of the
building as a receptacle of divine light.
 BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
• By definition, generalizations—especially intellectual
generalizations—are oversimplifications; however, it
is true that the Latin acceptance of salvation as a
path that one follows is reflected in the axial plan of
the basilican church that predominated in the west,
and the meditative exploration of the relationship
between religion and philosophy is reflected in the
centrally planned churches of the east.
• In the imperial architecture of Justinian, centralization is a dominant
theme. As God is the center of the cosmic order, so the (Emperor) is the
center of the terrestrial order. Terrestrial order is but a manifestation of
cosmic order and the emperor is the symbol of the Deity, a living image of
the incarnation. In the Early Christian basilica the space-defining wall is
the primary element. The space is covered by a secondary wooden roof,
which creates a certain vertical openness. The centralized space of the
Byzantine church, on the other hand, is covered by a dome. A dome, as
such, does not represent any innovation, but the dome of Justinian
architecture is more than the dome in the traditional sense. It is conceived
as an architecturally scaled baldachin, which is the architectural term for a
canopy suspended over an altar, throne, or tomb. The dome proper is
superimposed on a polygonal volume, and the transition is taken care of
by squinches or pendentives. Between the vertical supports of the
baldachins, secondary memberbrane-like walls are filled in. As these
walls have no structural function they may be perforated by numerous
openings, replaced by columnar screens, given a curved form, or simply
eliminated. It is also possible to add several baldachin-shaped elements
together. The Justinian architectural system, therefore, offers a new
fundamental freedom of planning and was of basic importance for the
development of Romanesque and Gothic.
HAGIA SOPHIA(532-537)
This longitudinal
section of the church
Shows how the half-
domes of the apse flow
outward from the cental
dome, both to carve out
the liturgical space and
support the main dome
Hagia Sophia, the masterpiece of Emperor
Justinian's building program in the mid-sixth
century. Anthemios of Tralles and Isidoros of
Miletus were the main architects responsible
for this frozen geometry.
 The interior was
originally
decorated, then
much of it
destroyed during
Iconoclasm, then
redecorated and
then covered by
the Muslim Turks

North nave wall.

The Imperial Door

from the Narthex.
The mosaic in the
lunette is a mid-9th-
century Christ with
Leo VI prostrate at
His feet. In the
medallions on either
side of Christ's
head are the Angel
Gabriel The great dome from the interior
This model of the church displays the atrium that
extended from the narthex.
• The main element of Hagia Sophia is a central dome, which is 98
feet in diameter and is perforated by a row of windows at its base—
the very location where structural logic tells us the dome exerts its
greatest forces. A longitudinal direction is introduced by the addition
of half-domes to the east and west, while the lateral “arms” are
closed off by screen walls. Smaller, diagonally placed conches are
added to the half-dome spaces, and the longitudinal movement is
completed by an apse. The plan displays a logical use of the
possibilities inherent in the central dome system, but the particular
solution is original, and represents a convincing synthesis which has
hardly been equaled since. The main nave, with its great dome, half-
domes, and diagonal half-domes, is placed within a larger rectangle,
measuring about 233 by 253 feet. A double shell structure is thereby
obtained, where the main rooms seem to be surrounded by an
illuminated “enclosure of space” consisting of aisles and glleries
used by the people during service, while the nave and the chancel
were reserved for the clergy and the emperor. The secondary
spaces were also formed by numerous small domes.
• The dome rests on pendentives, which are carried by huge
piers. Inserted between the piers is a screen wall of
superimposed columns and clerestory windows, which echoes
the nave of the Early Christian basilicas. The piers and walls
are not, however, expressed as structural elements. Similar to
the rest of the interior, they are covered with a continuous skin
of marble revetment and mosaics. The perceived
“transparency,” of this decoration creates a spiritualized interior
of unsurpassed beauty—an interior that strongly de-
emphasizes the structural logic of the building, causing the
viewer to contemplate the mystery, the miracle, of the
architectural enclosure of this awesome space. Architectural
historians refer to walls such as this as “dematerialized”
surfaces. In addition to the denial of structural expression, this
dematerialization is accomplished by the shimmering reflections
of mosaics and the large void to solid ratio of the walls
themselves. Even components such as the column capitals are
carved by a “back-cutting” technique that gives the impression
that space actually penetrates the stone itself.
• This complex but unified space was permeated by the “divine light” that emanated
from the “dome of heaven” and spread to the angels, patriarch, clergy, and emperor
participating in the service below. The ritual in which these persons participated is
described by Richard Krautheimer15 as follows: “During much of the mass, the clergy
remained inside the chancel. At stated points in the celebration of the liturgy,
however, clergy and patriarch re-entered the nave, both with and without their secular
counterparts of emperor and court. The two powers entered the church together
during the Lesser Entrance to take their appointed places: the patriarch and clergy in
the sanctuary, the emperor and court in the Imperial enclosure in the south aisle. The
clergy emerged for the reading of the scriptures and moved to the ambo (the pulpit
which rose below the eastern rim of the great dome). On solemn occasions, the
patriarch and clergy would proceed a second time to the pulpit to deliver the sermon.
The mass of the Faithful would open with the solemn procession of the Great
Entrance, when the patriarch, preceded by the clergy, would proceed from the
chancel into the nave and return into the chancel to deposit the elements of the
Eucharist on the altar—accompanied by the emperor, the one layman apparently
allowed inside the sanctuary. After the sacrifice had been performed, the patriarch
would emerge from the sanctuary a fifth time, to meet the emperor and exchange with
him the Kiss of Peace. Returning to the sanctuary, the patriarch would continue the
Mass, emerging one last time towards the end in order to carry the communion to the
emperor. To the faithful, all these appearances of the clergy and the emperor—
epiphanies would be a better term—were but fragments of a celebration which as a
whole remained to them, incomprehensible.”
CHRISTIAN ART
BYZANTINE ART