Byzantine Architecture

(300-1453 A.D)
 2

Byzantine Architecture (300-1453 A.D)

• The Byzantine architecture is the architecture of
Byzantine Empire.

• The empire gradually emerged as a distinct

artistic and cultural entity from what is today
referred to as the empire after 330A.D, when the
Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capital
of the Roman Empire east from Rome to
Byzantine.
 3

Byzantine Architecture (300-1453 A.D)

• Byzantium, "new Rome" was later renamed
Constantinople and is now called Istanbul.
• The empire endured for more than a millennium,
dramatically influencing Medieval and
Renaissance era architecture in Europe and
following the capture of Constantinople by the
Ottoman Turks in 1453, leading directly to the
architecture of the Ottoman Empire. Byzantine
Architecture (300-1453 AD)
 4

Byzantine Architecture (300-1453 A.D)

• Byzantine architecture is one of the important
historical stages in the global architectural
civilization. It was associated with the birth of
Christianity in Europe, where the Byzantine
Empire was called the Eastern Roman Empire.

• Emperor Constantine is the founder of the

Byzantine Empire, which made Constantinople
(formerly Byzantium) its capital in 335 AD.
 5

Byzantine Architecture (300-1453 A.D)

• The Byzantine Empire
comprises the Anatolian
plateau in Asia, parts of
Greece, the Aegean and
Armenian islands, Asia Minor,
the Levant, Egypt, Palestine,
Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and
parts of northern Nuba.

• It took on an Greek character

in culture and Science. It was
also influenced by the
civilizations and arts of the
Levant, Egypt, the Greeks and
Mesopotamia.
 6

Byzantine Architecture (300-1453 A.D)

• Byzantine architecture is an extension of Roman architecture
in terms of:
1. City planning.
2. Building various buildings.
3. Construction technology and the use of various building
materials.

• This is because the architects and builders who worked under

Roman paganism are the same who worked under Byzantine
Roman Christianity, using the techniques they used to build
buildings of a Christian character.
 7

Factors affecting Byzantine Architecture

1. Geographical Factors
2. Geological Factors
3. Climatic Factors
4. Religious Factors
5. Social Factors
6. Historical Factors
 8

First: Geographical Factors

• The capital of Byzantium (also called Constantinople.
Istanbul or New Rome) is located on seven hills and
at the junction of two main trade routes:

1. The waterway is the Black Sea route and the

Mediterranean Sea.
2. Trade route between Europe and Asia.

• Therefore Byzantium domination of trade, gave it an

important location for expansion on the Gulf at the
entrance to the Mediterranean Sea.
 9

Second: Geological Factors

• Stone was a basic material of building, but it did not exist in this area.

• Available materials are clay for brick work and stone wreck for concrete and there are
no good stones for constructing memorial buildings.

• It was necessary to import these important materials required for the construction of
memorial buildings.

• for example, marble was imported, from quarries located in the Eastern
Mediterranean sea for Constantinople.

• Byzantine architecture, therefore, was greatly influenced by the huge stones from
which memorial buildings were built, which were extracted from that country and
returned from abroad.
 10

Third: Climatic Factors

➢The buildings were affected by climatic factors. The
region was characterized by relatively warm weather
and little rainfall compared to Europe:
• The flat surfaces are combined with domes of authentic
oriental character.
• The narrow small openings of the windows are relatively
high than the level of the floor.
• Straight walls.
• Repeated vaults surrounding the interior.

These qualities are considered to be the most important

characteristics and landmarks of Byzantine architecture .
 11

Fourth: Religious Factors

➢Constantinople set the foundations of Christianity and
considered the Christian religion the official religion of
the Roman Empire in 323 AD.

➢The Byzantine style of architecture was therefore the

official expression of public buildings, churches and
monasteries, but the dispute between the church
officials quickly became apparent, especially when that
political division between East and West began to
emerge in the Roman Empire.
 12

Fifth: social and Historical Factors

• The presence of Byzantium in the East introduced oriental
systems and traditions.
• Byzantium flourished and yielded until it was destructed from
the love of the East and luxury.
• Initially began a new center of the Roman Empire.
 13

➢Some churches are still in their state due to

the use of strong materials that help to
sustain them, especially stones and marble.
 14

Architectural Characteristics
 15

Architectural Characteristics
• The Byzantine architecture was characterized by lightness, free
planning and reduced size and dimensions of the roof bearing
supports. The most important changes in the architecture were
the Domes, which were constructed above square and
octagonal shapes in the landscape instead of using the Barrel
Vault or Cross Vault, Which was previously prevalent, and the
use of domes lighter than the huge domes in Rome.

• The system of domes is completely contradicted with the style

of wooden trusses used in early Christian architecture or the
style of stone vaults in the Romanesque architecture.

• Byzantine architecture was characterized by a significant

development in the roofing technique of domes for square or
polygonal spaces in church plans, baptism buildings, shrines and
tombs.
 16

Architectural
Characteristics

Saint Basil's Cathedral, Moscow

 17

Architectural Characteristics
• The Byzantines used the concrete that was created by
the romans, they also used the mortar was used in the
marble structure and the marble.

• The Byzantines are most who was interested in the

agar industry as they were interested in the coloring of
the mortar formed from limestone and sand.
 18

Distinctive features of Byzantine

architecture

1. Domes
2. Ornaments
3. Columns
4. Openings
5. Plans
 19

Domes
• One of the most important features of
Byzantine architecture was the use of
domes, semi-arches, and long and cross
vaults.

• The most prominent event was the

construction of domes on pendentives. The
ancient Romans attempted to know this
construction method, but only limited
success was achieved in the use of the
podium with the pendants for the roofing of
the buildings with polygonal plans, thanks to
the Arabs innovation, as they used it to
move from square to round areas on which
the lower edges of the dome were based.
 20

Domes
• The domes used for the Byzantine style are divided
into three types:

1. Simple dome
2.Compound Dome
3. Dome based on Drum.
 21

Domes
• The domes used for the Byzantine style are divided
into three types:
1 - Simple dome: built in a manner where the arc of
curvature on the continuation of the arc curvature of
the corners of the spherical triangular ball so that the
dome and angles in a single spherical shape.
 22

Domes
2 – Compound dome: It is constructed so that the arc is
not curved on the continuation of the curvature of the
spherical triangular angles.
 23

Domes
The difference between the simple dome and the
Compound dome.
 24

Domes
3- Dome on Drum: It is built on a circular drum centered on
the spherical triangular angles and helps the drum to
open small windows that help to illuminate around and
below the beginning of the curve of the dome.
 25

Domes
• The method of building domes on Pendentives made it easy to
roof large areas without the need to build columns or pillars of
the center.
• In addition, the interior of these domes is beautiful and
decorated in terms of architectural influence.
• And the dome was seen from inside and outside, because
there is no covering for it.
 26

Domes
• And often a series of windows
opened around and at the
beginning of the curve of the dome,
if this dome of the type based on a
drum. This method of construction
by placing these small windows
gives the building beauty and
magnificence, and emphasizes the
shape and size of the dome.
 27

Domes
• Byzantine plans were influenced by
the use of domes, resulting in a large
central space, either square or many
sides.

• From here, we see that the plans of

the Byzantine churches was Crusader,
as this is considered one of the most
important features of Byzantine
architecture
 28

Domes
• The development of the plan of the
churches in line with the use of the
domes, so the plan became a large
center square roofed with a dome.

• The central square nave have four

arms forming the shape of a cross.

• The roof of each of these arms is in

the form of a vault or half a dome.

• And the four corners confined

between the nave and those arms
were roofed by either small domes
or groined vaults.
 29

Domes

• The plans were characterized

by large areas covered by a
large dome with rectangular
areas covered with semi-
domes and small square areas
covered with small domes,
including the patios on open
spaces surrounded by covered
vaulted corridors.
 30

Domes
• The exterior facades of these churches were simple,
powerful, expressive, with one or more rows of small
windows.
• The most important
buildings were the
churches of the new
doctrine.
• The use of many
domes and the use
of semi-domes.
 31

Domes
• The architects of this era were famous for their creativity
and excellence in the architectural composition of these
domes, with large, small and half domes, which made
them unique over time.
 32

Openings
• The balconies (Patios) were set up on top of the isles
of the large churches in terms of their plan, and were
mounted on pillars between the original pillars that
held the dome.

• The openings with

semicircular vaults were
used as well as straight or
in the shape of the
horseshoe vault.
 33

Openings

Hagia Sophia
 34

Openings
 35

Openings
• The windows were small to suit the warm weather
and were mostly made up of more than one row
and were under the continuous domes.

• The small openings

helped to create large,
suitable surfaces from
the interior walls to
draw various images
in the mosaic.
 36

Openings

The windows are small and

placed high under the dome.
 37

Ornaments
• This architecture was characterized by interior
ornaments.

• Artists also tended to

subject vegetal ornaments
to geometrical
compositions, and
elements of living things
such as pigeons, peacocks
and fish were introduced
into the elements.
 38

Ornaments
• This architecture was characterized by interior ornaments which
increased the prestige of the churches. All the walls were covered
with mosaics of colored marble, and the walls, vaults and domes
were covered with glazed mosaics.

Interior of Sant
Apollinare in Ravena,
built by Justinian in
commemoration of
Ravenna's first bishop,
Saint Apollinaris
 39

Ornaments

Monreale Cathedral... Arab and The apse mosaics from the Church of
Byzantine art and architecture Sant Apollinare in Ravena.
 40

Ornaments

Mosaics and Frescoes

 41

Ornaments
• They excelled in the decoration,
paintings and representative
drawings using colored mosaic,
gold-plated glass and colored
marble.
 42

Ornaments
• Their drawings were of a religious nature and were called
icons.
 43

Ornaments
• Mosaic decoration spread over walls, ceilings and
floors.
 44

Columns
• The Byzantine columns
were developed from
columns that were
known in Egyptian,
Greek and Roman
architecture. They
used columns from
one piece of marble.
 45

Columns

Hagia Sophia
 46

Columns
• The crowns were made of
white marble, and their
patterns were limited to the
lonian, Corinthian and the
composite. However, they
were modified so that the
side projection of the
crowns was curved, and the
decorations were carved and
not engraved as columns of
Roman columns.
 47

Columns
• The interior space is characterized by the use of
many columns.
• Built of colored marble.
 48

Columns
 49

Building Materials
• The Byzantine builders
followed the Romans in
construction techniques
and the use of building
materials that is, they
used bricks and
concrete in the walls
and the vaults and other
and even pottery used
in the domes due to its
lightness.
 50

Roofs
• At the early Christian
architecture in the
fourth century AD, they
used wooden ceilings
such as wooden trusses
with one or more
pedestals as the
simplest types of roofs.
• Then the roof of the
church was built in the
style of the vault and
dome. The domes were
then a distinctive way of St. Michael the Archangsl urch in
roofing the church's Kaunas was built in Roman-
spaces. Byzantine style
 51

Roofs
• The method used for roofing was brick, stone or concrete Domes, often
leaving them without interior cover.

• However, it is noted that the vault of the church of Hagia Sophia is

covered with a layer of lead plates 0.635 cm thick
 52

Roofs
• Sometimes hollow pottery were used to reduce the loads resulting
from the weight of the ceilings on the walls, the ceiling of the
Church of St. Vitale / Ravenna was designed in this way, in addition
to the thermal insulation resulting from the use of light materials.
This method is still used In the upper roofs of the important
buildings so far.
 53

Church of San Vitale

 54

Church of San Vitale

Saint Vitale
(547 Ad)
established
during the
region of
Justinian
and his wife
Theodora.
 55

Church of San Vitale

 56

Church of San Vitale

 57

Byzantine Architectural Style

 58

Byzantine Architectural Style

• Although influenced by the Greek and Roman
heritage as well as the civilizations of the Levant and
Egypt, Byzantines were able to develop their own
cultures and architectural styles especially in the
construction of churches, palaces, baths, libraries,
hospitals, canteens (khan), covered markets and
guest houses on convoys.

• The empire remained in place until it was

overthrown by Muhammad al-Fateh in 1453. It was a
transit point for commercial convoys between East
and West.
 59

Byzantine Architectural Style

• One of the most important characteristics of the
Byzantine architecture was influenced by the
conditions and factors of their climate(relatively
hot), which were manifested in:
1. the presence of the flat surfaces shared together
with the domes of the original eastern trait
2. the small narrow openings of the relatively high
windows from the level of the floor.
3. And the repeated vaults surrounding the interior,
all these factors have become the architectural
properties of this Byzantine style.
 60

Byzantine Architectural Style

• The Byzantine architecture was known for its use of domes covering
large areas of buildings and then its use was transferred to the
Islamic architecture in Turkey, Iraq, Egypt and Syria. The domes were
built either in brick or stone or in steel or reinforced concrete
systems. Some of them are solid, some of them are opened windows
for lighting and ventilation.
• The semi-spherical shape of the
dome is converted into square
shape by means of spherical
triangles Pendentives topped
with plaster or stone
ornamented vaulting and these
muqarnas used excessively in
some buildings and palaces.
 61

Byzantine Architectural Style

 62

The plans of the Byzantine churches:

• The churches did not take a special shape or form
with architectural characteristics until long after the
spread of Christianity.
• Initially, the houses were used as places of worship,
but after Constantine embraced the Christian
religion, the need arose to build the church to
express the religion of the new state. The basilica
form which was used as a market, worked out the
changes necessary to suit the new worship.
 63

The plans of the Byzantine churches:

• They are rectangular, octagonal or crusader shape, usually
centered with a central square topped by the main dome.
The shape of this square is proportional to the shape of
the plan and appears in square, oval, octagonal, or
polygonal. The central space is surrounded by aisles and
chapels that are roofed with domes or vaults.

• The appearance of the Crusader layout of the churches,

which consists of two crossed rectangles that are always
equal in width and often in length, produces a middle
square, covered by a dome, and a dome rises on each arm
and the number of domes becomes five.
 64

Models of the Byzantine churches:

• Type I: Cross inside out.
• Example: Saint Mark church in Venice.
 65

Models of the Byzantine churches:

Latin Cross Greek Cross, Isosceles

 66

St. Mark church

• Is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church in Venice, Italy.
• It is called St. Mark's Cathedral. The basilica was named after St. Mark who
was the patron of Venice.
• The basilica was built mainly on the Byzantine style, although its
architecture is a reflection of the Roman style, in addition to some gothic
influence.
• It was built as a chapel of the palace to the governor of Venice.
 67

St. Mark church

St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice (built in 1063)
 68

St. Mark church

• The church of St. Mark was built
in Venice in Italy in the ninth
century AD, in the Basilica style
By the middle of the eleventh
century (1082-1042) the church
was rebuilt and its plan became
a Greek cross with four equal
arms.

• the top of each arm is roofed

with a dome, and one on the
intersection of the arms, while
the bell tower is located close to
the basilica alone in St. Mark's
Square.
 69

St. Mark church

• The church has five entrances, facing the square of Saint
Mark, which is decorated with marble and looks like an
entrance to the church. The façades are back to the 12th
century and have five large entrances. There are four bronze
horse statues opposite the main entrance
 70

St. Mark church

Statue of St. Mark
 71

St. Mark church

Illustration of the
plan and part of
interior
 72

St. Mark church

• In St. Mark's Cathedral, the central cross
and the arms are covered by domes.

• The domes are mounted on spherical

triangles pendentives, and domes have
openings.

• The domes were also covered with huge

wooden domes from outside that were
added to the original domes.

• The front porch of the church extended

around the western part and was covered
with small domes.
 73

St. Mark church

• The walls were covered with marble plates, the ground was also covered
with marble, and the magnificent colors were used in the decoration of
the exterior and interior walls of the church.
• The cathedral has five large entrances, decorated with golden mosaic
work and transparent marble, alongside the delicate sculpture.
 74

St. Mark church

• Semicircular Vaults were used to cover the openings and doors, which is
directly based on the capitals of columns.

• They also used straight or horse shoe vaults. The windows were small to
match the warm weather, and were mostly made up of more than one
row and were under the continuous vaults
 75

St. Mark church

• They used the ornaments in
interior walls from marble and
different shapes and types
arrangements.
• While in domes and upper walls
relied on images of glazed mosaics
and are represented in numbers
and symbols (saints) and the motto
of the immortality of life and its
frescoes of sacred religious
scriptures.
• They also used gold in wall
covering and sculpture.
 76

Models of the Byzantine churches:

• Type II: Cross from the inside and
square from the outside.
• Example: church of St. Sophia.
 77

Models of the Byzantine churches:

• Type III: octagonal inside it
is an outside square church.
• Example: St. Sergius in
Constantinople.

SS. Sergius and Bacchus - Little Hagia Sophia

 78

SS. Sergius and Bacchus - Little Hagia Sophia

• Type III: octagonal

inside it is an
outside square
church.
• Example: St.
Sergius in
Constantinople.
 79

SS. Sergius and Bacchus - Little Hagia Sophia

• Little Hagia Sophia
• It was built in 530 as a church under
the name of Serkius and Bacchus by
the Byzantine Emperor Alostinianus
in the region between the "Kadirga"
and "Jean Kortaran" districts of the
"Amen Ono" region.

• After the Ottoman conquest of the

city was converted into a mosque in
the reign of Sultan Beyazid II by the
director of the house of happiness
Hussein Agha where we find the
tomb of Hussein Agha in the square
of the mosque.
 80

SS. Sergius and Bacchus - Little Hagia Sophia

• The mosque which consists of stone and brick walls, was built in the
shape of a square covered with a dome.
• it was hit in 1648 and 1763 and restored in 1831. It was also damaged
in1860 from the railway line passing by.
 81

SS. Sergius and Bacchus - Little Hagia Sophia

• It is thought that his Baroque-
style minaret was built in the
second half of the 18th century,
in 1936, his minaret was
destroyed for unknown reasons.
The mosque remained fora long
time until a new minaret was
built in 1955.
• As well as the beautiful marble
fountain with an octagonal-
shape basin that was in the
courtyard of the mosque was
demolished in 1938.
 82

SS. Sergius and Bacchus - Little Hagia Sophia

• The apse of the former church

with the Mihrab. The Minbar is
seen in the foreground.
 83

SS. Sergius and Bacchus - Little Hagia Sophia

Column detail and northern part of the

dome
 84

SS. Sergius and Bacchus - Little Hagia Sophia

The dome.
 85

SS. Sergius and Bacchus - Little Hagia Sophia

 86

SS. Sergius and Bacchus - Little Hagia Sophia

 87

SS. Sergius and Bacchus - Little Hagia Sophia

The original non-representational decorations, like these marble column

capitals, were left untouched in the conversion of this building from
Christian to Islam.
 88

SS. Sergius and Bacchus - Little Hagia Sophia

The Greek texts carved into the base of the gallery have been allowed to stay as a
decorative feature. Only the mosaic representational images were obliterated for this
building’s new religion.
 89

Models of the Byzantine churches:

• Type IV: octagonal inside and outside.
• Example: Basilica of San Vitale.

Basilica of San Vitale

 90

Models of the Byzantine churches:

• Type V: Round from inside and
outside.
• Example: The Rotunda of St. George

The Rotunda of St. George

 91

The Rotunda of St. George

• Also called the Greek
Orthodox Church Agios
Georgios.
• The cylindrical structure was
built in 306 AD ordered by
Galerius, who was thought to
be intended to be his tomb. .It
has a diameter of 24.5 m. The
thickness of its walls is more
than 6 meters, and therefore it
stood in front of the
Thessalonians Earthquakes.
 92

The Rotunda of St. George

• After the death of Galerius in 311, he was not buried in this tomb.
And it remained empty until the reign of Emperor Constantine I,
who ordered converting into a Christian church in the 4th century.
The church was decorated with very high quality mosaics.
• The building was used as a
church for more than 1,200
years until the city fell to the
Ottomans.
• In 1590 it was converted into a
mosque, called the Soliman
Effendi Mosque, and a minaret
was added to the temple. It
remained used as a mosque until
1912, when the Greeks seized
the city during the Balkan War.
 93

The Rotunda of St. George

• Suffered damage during an
earthquake in 1978.

• The building is now a historical

monument under the Byzantine
ruins of the Ministry of Greek
Culture.

• The oldest churches in

Thessaloniki Some Greek
publications claim to be the
oldest Christian church in the
world.
 94

Models of the Byzantine churches:

• Type VI: in the shape of basilica
covered with domes- a church.
• Example: Saint Theodore in
Constantinople.
 95

Example
 96

Hagia Sophia
 97

Hagia Sophia
• The Holy Wisdom, or the Church of the Hagia Sophia,
this medieval church was named the Great Church and
is considered the clearest example of the Byzantine’s
architecture during the reign of the Emperor Justinian,
because it was characterized by its special architectural
formation and Great accuracy.
• And it is unique, it is considered
a start of a new model and style
and at the same time it was the
peak of the glory of this
Byzantine style.
 98

Hagia Sophia
• In the era of Justinian, serious disturbances took place in 532
AD, which caused the burning of the old church built by
Constantine and dedicated to the Holy Wisdom. The first to be
addressed by Justinian's thought was to rebuild it with an
unprecedented grandeur.
• He ordered all the valuable
materials to be rebuilt from all over
the world. The various regions of
Constantinople sent the greatest
monuments of their ancient
temples, from Athens, Rome,
Baalbeck and other historical
monuments that were used in
several places in this church with
great skill and accuracy.
 99

Hagia Sophia
• When the Greeks wanted to build temples for them, they chose the
most powerful marble of strength and whiteness. Justinian,
however succeeded to combine the various types of marble, and
the combination of different colors, he generously used gold, silver,
ivory and precious stones to increase the magnificence of the
building and its grandeur and accuracy.
 100

Hagia Sophia
• To achieve his purpose, Justinian entrusted the order to engineers of
Asian origin: Anthemes and Azerwares .

• And they proved their ability to solve

architectural problems and fast
implementation. work under their
supervision was very fast, the
building was occupied by 10,000
workers, and Justinian was watching
the work closely, and spent on
implementation large amount of
money, so ended the construction of
the church In five years, the emperor
officially opened this church on
December 27, 537 AD.
 101

Hagia Sophia
• The nave of the church is in oval shape
consists of (about 80 m * 35 m).
• The plan of this large hall consists of a
huge square with a length of 35 m.
• Its four pillars have huge columns of
stone bearing the gallery and the big
dome, which is 35 m in length, and
height from the ground is about 58 m.

• A close look at the square shows the

grandeur and greatness of the dome,
as one historian described it as hanging
from sky.
 102

Hagia Sophia
• The walls of this church and the walls of the dome are covered with all
kinds of multicolored marble from different regions.
• The floors are covered with colored mosaic and geometric shapes.
• Vaults and domes are covered with colored glass.
• These covers represents a large number of angels and saints in exquisite
form on a gilded floor. After this church was converted into a Hagia Sophia
mosque these statues were covered and replaced by verses from the Holy
Quran.
 103

Hagia Sophia
• The mosque contains 107 columns, most of which are transferred
from various temples and especially the temple of Baalbek, including
40 column in the ground floor and the rest in the gallery surrounding
the nave on two floors.
 104

Hagia Sophia
 105

Hagia Sophia
 106

Hagia Sophia
 107

Hagia Sophia
 108

Hagia Sophia
 109

Hagia Sophia
 110

Hagia Sophia
 111

Hagia Sophia
 112

Hagia Sophia
 113

Hagia Sophia
 114

Hagia Sophia
In the facade:

• The dome was much lower and

heavier than it actually was, in
the sixth century, Byzantine walls
were built with red bricks,
making their appearance boring.
• And no one can appreciate what
in Hagia Sophia of the creation
of great power and rareness but
from the inside where it
collected all the manifestations
of luxury and richness of the
wondrous.
 115

Hagia Sophia
• The (4) minarets were added later when the Muslims seized Constantinople and turned it
into a mosque where no account was made in the original design.
 116

Hagia Sophia

• The Parthenon is also a

masterpiece of Greek
architecture, the
Pantheon is Roman
architecture, and the
Hagia Sophia in
Constantinople is the
masterpiece of
Byzantine architecture
throughout the ages.
117
118
119