BICOL STATE COLLEGE OF APPLIED SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

CITY OF NAGA

ACTIVITY 17

BYZANTINE
ARCHITECTURE
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
[ HIOA111A ]

JENZ HOPE NOVELA

BSA-1C

ARCH. IAN KENNETH ORASA

UAP
 BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE LASTED FROM 330 AD, WHEN CONSTANTINE THE
GREAT RELOCATED THE ROMAN CAPITAL TO BYZANTIUM, WHICH LATER
BECAME CONSTANTINOPLE, UNTIL 1453, WHEN IT FELL. HOWEVER, THERE
WAS NO CLEAR DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE BYZANTINE AND ROMAN
EMPIRES AT FIRST, AND EARLY BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE IS
AESTHETICALLY AND STRUCTURALLY SIMILAR TO OLDER ROMAN
ARCHITECTURE. MODERN HISTORIANS COINED THIS WORD TO DESCRIBE THE
MEDIEVAL ROMAN EMPIRE AS IT DEVELOPED AS AN UNIQUE ARTISTIC AND
CULTURAL ENTITY CENTERED ON THE NEW CAPITAL OF CONSTANTINOPLE OR
MODERN-DAY ISTANBUL RATHER THAN ROME AND ITS SURROUNDS.

ITS ARCHITECTURE HAD A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON SUBSEQUENT

MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE AND THE NEAR EAST, AND IT WAS THE
PRINCIPAL PARENT OF THE RENAISSANCE AND OTTOMAN ARCHITECTURAL
TRADITIONS THAT EMERGED AFTER ITS DEMISE. BYZANTINE CAPITALS
BREAK AWAY FROM THE CLASSICAL CONVENTIONS OF ANCIENT GREECE
AND ROME WITH SINUOUS LINES AND NATURALISTIC FORMS, WHICH ARE
PRECURSORS TO THE GOTHIC STYLE.

BEFORE IT SPREAD WEST TO RAVENNA AND VENICE, AND AS FAR NORTH

AS MOSCOW, HIS NEW STYLE WITH UNUSUAL DOMES AND RICHER MOSAICS
BECAME KNOWN AS "BYZANTINE." THE MAJORITY OF THE CATHEDRALS AND
BASILICAS FEATURE HIGH-RIDING DOMES, WHICH CREATED HUGE OPEN
SPACES IN THE BUILDINGS' CORES, ALLOWING FOR MORE LIGHT. THE
ROUND ARCH IS A KEY FEATURE OF BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE. WITH THEIR
GEOMETRIC SIMPLICITY, MAGNIFICENT GOLDEN MOSAICS CARRIED LIGHT
AND WARMTH INTO THE HEART OF CATHEDRALS.

THE HISTORY OF ROMAN AND BYZANTINE DOMES FOLLOWS THE

DEVELOPMENT OF DOME ARCHITECTURE THROUGHOUT THE ANCIENT
ROMAN EMPIRE AND ITS MEDIEVAL CONTINUANCE, THE BYZANTINE
EMPIRE. DOME ARCHITECTURE WAS ESSENTIAL IN BOTH PERIODS, AND IT
INFLUENCED A BROAD RANGE OF CONTEMPORANEOUS AND LATER FORMS,
FROM RUSSIAN AND OTTOMAN ARCHITECTURE TO THE ITALIAN
RENAISSANCE AND MODERN REVIVALS. THE DOMES WERE MOSTLY
HEMISPHERICAL, THOUGH OCTAGONAL AND SEGMENTED VARIETIES WERE
ALSO KNOWN, AND THEIR FORM, USAGE, AND CONSTRUCTION EVOLVED
THROUGHOUT TIME. EARLY VERSIONS WERE MOUNTED DIRECTLY ON THE
ROTUNDA WALLS OF ROUND CHAMBERS, WITH A CENTRAL OCULUS FOR
AIR AND LIGHT. PENDENTIVES WERE USED TO SUPPORT DOMES OVER
SQUARE AREAS DURING THE BYZANTINE PERIOD.

MULTIPLE DOMES IS ONE OF THE MAIN ELEMENTS OF BYZANTINE

ARCHITECTURE, THE PROLIFERATION OF DOMES BEGAN, REACHING ITS
PEAK AT ST. MARK'S IN VENICE, WHICH FEATURES A DOME ON EACH ARM
OF THE FLOOR PLAN AND ANOTHER IN THE CENTER. BYZANTINE ENGINEERS
EMPLOYED STRUCTURAL USAGE OF BYZANTINE PENDENTIVES TO LIFT
BYZANTINE DOMES TO UNPRECEDENTED HEIGHTS. THE TOP OF A VERTICAL
CYLINDER, SUCH AS A SILO, CAN BE USED TO SUPPORT A DOME, GIVING IT
HEIGHT.
 HAGIA SOPHIA

HAGIA SOPHIA, OFFICIALLY KNOWN AS THE HOLY HAGIA SOPHIA GRAND MOSQUE,
AND FORMERLY THE CHURCH OF HAGIA SOPHIA AND FORMERLY MUSEUM IS A LATE
ANTIQUE PLACE OF WORSHIP IN ISTANBUL, DESIGNED BY THE GREEK GEOMETERS
ISIDORE OF MILETUS AND ANTHEMIUS OF TRALLES.CBYZANTINE EMPEROR CONSTANTIUS
COMMISSIONED CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIRST HAGIA SOPHIA IN 360 A.D. AT THE TIME
OF THE FIRST CHURCH’S CONSTRUCTION, ISTANBUL WAS KNOWN AS CONSTANTINOPLE,
TAKING ITS NAME FROM CONSTANTIUS’ FATHER, CONSTANTINE I, THE FIRST RULER OF
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE.

THE FIRST HAGIA SOPHIA FEATURED A WOODEN ROOF. THE STRUCTURE WAS BURNED TO
THE GROUND IN 404 A.D. DURING THE RIOTS THAT OCCURRED IN CONSTANTINOPLE AS A
RESULT OF POLITICAL CONFLICTS WITHIN THE FAMILY OF THEN-EMPEROR ARKADIOS,
WHO HAD A TUMULTUOUS REIGN FROM 395 TO 408 A.D. ARKADIOS’ SUCCESSOR,
EMPEROR THEODOSIOS II, REBUILT THE HAGIA SOPHIA, AND THE NEW STRUCTURE WAS
COMPLETED IN 415. THE SECOND HAGIA SOPHIA CONTAINED FIVE NAVES AND A
MONUMENTAL ENTRANCE AND WAS ALSO COVERED BY A WOODEN ROOF.

FROM ITS OPENING, THE THIRD AND FINAL HAGIA SOPHIA WAS INDEED A REMARKABLE
STRUCTURE. IT COMBINED THE TRADITIONAL DESIGN ELEMENTS OF AN ORTHODOX
BASILICA WITH A LARGE, DOMED ROOF, AND A SEMI-DOMED ALTAR WITH TWO NARTHEX
(OR “PORCHES”). THE DOME’S SUPPORTING ARCHES WERE COVERED WITH MOSAICS OF
SIX WINGED ANGELS CALLED HEXAPTERYGON. IN AN EFFORT TO CREATE A GRAND
BASILICA THAT REPRESENTED ALL OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE, EMPEROR JUSTINIAN
DECREED THAT ALL PROVINCES UNDER HIS RULE SEND ARCHITECTURAL PIECES FOR USE
IN ITS CONSTRUCTION. THE CENTRAL DOME RESTS ON A RING OF WINDOWS AND IS
SUPPORTED BY TWO SEMI-DOMES AND TWO ARCHED OPENINGS TO CREATE A LARGE
NAVE, THE WALLS OF WHICH WERE ORIGINALLY LINED WITH INTRICATE BYZANTINE
MOSAICS MADE FROM GOLD, SILVER, GLASS, TERRA COTTA AND COLORFUL STONES AND
PORTRAYING WELL-KNOWN SCENES AND FIGURES FROM THE CHRISTIAN GOSPELS.