HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

2
WESTERN ARCHITECTURE from the Medieval Architecture to
Post Modernism

Early Christian Architecture

PERIOD 313 AD – 800 AD
LOCATI Principally in present-day Italy
ON and parts of Turkey,  Syria,
Israel
CULTU Constantine moves the imperial
RE capitol east, from  Rome to
Byzantium(Present-day Istanbul)
which is  renamed
Constantinople.
RELIGI Sees the legitimization and
ON expansion of Christianity 
following the religion’s first
two centuries as Jewish  sect;
Christianity soon becomes the
de facto religion  
of the realm and the state
and church become 
closely entwined.

I. ARCHITECTURAL INFLUENCES 

 Evolution of new building types for

Christian worship out of former house-
churches, new types adopted from
existing  Roman models; basilica is
most important adaptation which
becomes pattern for Christian churches
across the empire,  beginning with Old
St. Peter’s; Roman tholos type
influences centrally-planned church. 
 The basilica, originally a Roman civic
building type, is adapted with changes:
side-entrance is changed to end entrance
to emphasize long processional nave;
 masonry vaults are replaced with simple
wood truss roofs;  addition of narthex,
campanile, and etc. 
 Loss of Sophisticated Roman engineering
and craftsmanship; shift to simplified
building techniques and artisan  practices. 
 Re-use of elements from Roman
buildings; churches soften feature
colonnades and arcades with
mismatched  “borrowed” elements. 
 Purposeful contrast between exterior and
interior of sacred buildings; outside, often
rough with brick or other  small masonry
units and no decoration; inside, frescoes
and mosaics.

II. EXAMPLES 

A.BASILICA 
Parts of a Basilica 
 Apse – a semicircular recess covered with a
hemispherical vault or semi-dome. 
 Chancel/Bema – the space
around the altar, including the
choir and the sanctuary
(sometimes called  presbytery), at
the liturgical east end. 
 Transept – a transverse part of any
building, which lies across the main
body of the edifice. In churches, a 
transept is an area set crosswise to the
nave in a cruciform building. 
 Nave – the central aisle of a basilica church
or the main body of a church between its
rear wall and the far end of  its intersection
with the transept at the chancel. 
 Aisle – a passageway to either side of the
nave that is separated from the nave by
colonnades or arcades, a row  of pillars or
columns. 
 Narthex – an antechamber, porch, or
distinct area consisting of the entrance or
 lobby area, located at the west  end of the
nave, opposite the church’s main altar. 
 Atrium – an open-roofed entrance hall or
central court. 

B. Church Complex
a. Belfry 
b. Campanile 
c. Baptistery 
C. Baptistery 
- Large separate building, adjoining atrium 
- Used only for sacrament of
baptism, on festivals of Easter,
Pentecost and Epiphany 
- With advent of infant baptism, replaced by
font. 
- Not located at the church itself
but a separate structure connected
to the church by a colonnade. 
D. Tomb 
-400 AD, burial was prohibited within city
walls 
- Christians objected to cremation, insisted on
burial on consecrated grounds 
Monumental tombs as expression of faith in
immortality.

Examples: 

Basilica 
Old St. Peter’s Basilica  
Old St. Peter’s Basilica was a standard basilica
in shape only, a classic Roman primarily
rectangular-shaped building, though cruciform
in its entirety. It stood as an impressive and
awe-inspiring place of worship for early 
Christians in post-Constantine Rome where
Christianity was made legal. The mammoth-
sized basilica was far larger in scale than other
basilicas, being around 403 feet long and 208
feet in width (Kinney, description). The
buildings size was enough that it held 4 aisles
instead of the usual 2, this was accentuated by
the transept running through the nave and the
apse, the central part of the building and
portion containing the altar respectively
(Kinney, description). The building  was
famous for its astounding number of columns,
with 100 of them lining its aisles (Kinney,
description). In terms of  height, this basilica
was no less impressive, boasting a total height
of 124 feet from bottom to peak of the roof,
though  inside it would have seemed a bit
shorter due to the flat ceiling (Kinney,
description). The buildings verticality was
tiered,  with the outer most aisle being shorter
than the next one in and the nave being the
tallest portion. Material wise, it is  known that
the columns were made of recycled material
originally intended for other constructions
made from various  other materials from all over
the empire, including multiple forms of granite and
marble (Kinney, description). It was  noted that the
church was known for its “shining” appearance due to
the numerous gildings and mosaics used to  decorate
the church residing over the resting place of St. Peter
(Kinney, decoration).

Baptistery

“LA ROTONDA” OF NOCERA

SUPERIORE: A Jewel of Early
Chrsitian Art  
By: Robert Iossa 

TO Nocera Superiore one of the best preserved

early Christian buildings in Italy is kept: it is the
Baptistery of  Santa Maria Maggiore, better known
as “La Rotonda”. 

A Territory with a thousand-year history. 

We are in Agro Nocerino Sarnese, an area halfway
between Salerno and Naples, near sea and
protected behind by the Regional Park of the
Lattari Mountains. It’s millenary history has seen it
protagonist of important historical events  partly
traceable from archeology finds. The Baptistery of
Nocera Superiore was built little after the middle
of the sixth  century a. A. (about 1500 years ago!)
in the years of domination of the Eastern Roman
Empire. IN those years, in fact,  the Byzantines
had ust defeated the Ostrogoths led by King
Theia. 

According to local tradition, the alleged church

annexed to the baptistery was destroyed in 1138
when the  Norman king Roger II conquered
Nocera by razing it to the ground. But the presence
of a basilica complex is not found in 
archaeological excavations. 

“La Rotonda” stands on an ancient Roman

building, as can be seen from mosaic floor which
emerged following  the excavation work. Although
many believe that this construction is a Roman
temple, the most plausible hypothesis  refers to a
residential complex or a thermal complex. In fact,
near the building stands the “Archaeological Park
of  Nuceria” Whose recent excavations have
brought to light the remains of Roman dwellings
form various eras. 

The Baptistery maintains its original structure

especially inside. Entering, in fact, we are struck
by the beauty of  the columns. There are fifteen
pairs connected to each other by round arches.
Columns, capitals and bases are gods  counting
materials, most dating back to the time of the
emperor Adriano, coming from the buildings of the
ancient  Roman city of Nuceria Alfaterna.
Cipollino, gray granite, striped travertine, oriental
alabaster: a real sample of sizes and colors, which
makes this environment mystical and suspended in
time. Also Roman-Corinthian capitals they are
of exquisite workmanship, four of them are
decorated with reed leaves and dolphins. The
central plan revolves around the  baptismal font
covered in marble and over six meters long in
diameter (it is one of the largest in Italy!) Here the 
catechumens received the rite of Baptism through
immersion, in memory of that dispensed by St.
John to Christ in the  Jordan River. Over the
centuries the building has undergone a series of
additions that testify to the use made of it by the 
community. To the left of the current entrance are
located for example two medieval niches of
different sizes decorated  with frescoes from 1300. 

There are many famous people who have visited

the Baptistery of Santa Maria Maggiore. In 1856
King of  Ferdinand II of Bourbon he went here and
ordered its restoration, which was then slowed
down by the events of 1860  and only seriously
revived in recent decades. But also poets, travelers,
artists: everyone was surprised b the charm of  this
place which, for hundred years, takes us back in
time and tells a past that belongs to everyone better
than any book.

Campanile: 
campanile kă mpənē´lē, Ital. kä mpä nē´lā
[key], Italian form of bell tower, constructed
chiefly during the Middle Ages.  Built in
connection with a church or a town hall, it
served as a belfry and watch tower and often
functioned as a civic or commemorative
monument. The campanile generally stands as
a detached unit. At the top is the bell platform,
where the main architectural emphasis,
generally a group of arched openings, is
concentrated. Originating in the 6th cent., the
campaniles were the earliest church towers in
Europe and were generally circular in shape;
examples of this type remain at Ravenna.
Beginning with the 8th cent., the square plan
became most common, being constructed in
all parts of Italy.  The Lombardy section
produced the richest development of the
campanile. Brick is the material most used,
often  combined with stone for the cornices
and string courses, the latter surrounding the
tower at each story level in the  Roman
examples. The celebrated campanile of
Florence, known as Giotto's campanile (1334),
is entirely faced in marble  and ornamented
with sculptures. Also of marble is the leaning
tower at Pisa.

Byzantine Architecture
INFLUENCES

History
 330 AD to 1453 AD
 Byzantium, Greek colony since 660 BC
 Constantine, a converted Christian, changed the
capital of the Empire from Rome to Byzantium
in 330 AD.
 Empire was divided – Rome was western
capital and Byzantium as eastern capital (“new
Rome”)

Religion
 330 AD, Constantinople became capital to first
official Christian empire

Geography and Geology

 Where Asia and Europe meet, separated by a
narrow strip of water
 Most commanding position and most valuable
part of eastern Roman Empire

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

 Mostly Church Construction

 Discarded the Early Christian style for new
domical Byzantine style (Byzantine is still
official style for Orthodox church)
 Basilican plan – Early Christian
 Domed, centralized plan – Byzantine
Construction Style
 Domical Construction with classical columnar style

Columnation, Capitals
 Used Roman Ionic, Corinthian, Composite style
 Cubiform capital, shaped to form a transition from square
abacus to circular shaft
 Dosseret block used as a deep abacus, invented to enlarge
surface for receiving wide voussoirs of arches or thick walls.

Roof and Ceiling

3 types of Dome

 Simple
 Compound
 Special Design
Decoration

 Stone bands instead of mouldings

 Decorative arches
 Internal marble, mosaic and fresco
decoration
Orientation
 Façade faces west

EXAMPLES

A.Churches

Hagia Sophia 
Hagia Sophia, Turkish Ayasofya, Latin Sancta
Sophia, also called Church of the Holy Wisdom
or Church of the Divine Wisdom, an important
Byzantine structure in Istanbul and one of the
world’s great monuments. It was built as a
Christian church in the 6th century CE (532–537)
under the direction of the Byzantine emperor
Justinian I. In subsequent centuries it became a
mosque, a museum, and a mosque again. The
building reflects the religious changes that have
played out in the region over the centuries, with
the minarets and inscriptions of Islam as well as
the lavish mosaics of Christianity.

The original church on the site of the Hagia

Sophia is said to have been ordered to be built by
Constantine I in 325 on the foundations of a pagan
temple. His son, Constantius II, consecrated it in
360. It was damaged in 404 by a fire that erupted
during a riot following the second banishment of
St. John Chrysostom, then patriarch of
Constantinople. It was rebuilt and enlarged by the
Roman emperor Constans I. The restored building
was rededicated in 415 by Theodosius II. The
church was burned again in the Nika insurrection
of January 532, a circumstance that gave Justinian
I an opportunity to envision a splendid
replacement.
The resultant Hagia Sophia was built in the
remarkably short time of about six years, being
completed in 537 CE. Unusual for the period in
which it was built, the names of the building’s
architects—Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of
Miletus—are well known, as is their familiarity
with mechanics and mathematics. The structure
now standing is essentially the 6th-century edifice,
although an earthquake caused a partial collapse of
the dome in 558 (restored 562) and there were two
further partial collapses, after which it was rebuilt
to a smaller scale and the whole church reinforced
from the outside. It was restored again in the mid-
14th century. For more than a millennium it was
the Cathedral of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of
Constantinople. It was looted in 1204 by the
Venetians and the Crusaders on the Fourth
Crusade.

After the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in

1453, Mehmed II had it repurposed as a mosque,
with the addition of a wooden minaret (on the
exterior, a tower used for the summons to prayer),
a great chandelier, a mihrab (niche indicating the
direction of Mecca), and a minbar (pulpit). Either
he or his son Bayezid II erected the red minaret
that stands on the southeast corner of the structure.
The original wooden minaret did not survive.
Bayezid II erected the narrow white minaret on the
northeast side of the mosque. The two identical
minarets on the western side were likely
commissioned by Selim II or Murad III and built
by renowned Ottoman architect Sinan in the 1500s.

In 1934 Turkish Pres. Kemal Atatü rk secularized

the building, and in 1935 it was made into a
museum. In 1985 the Hagia Sophia was designated
a component of a UNESCO World Heritage site
called the Historic Areas of Istanbul, which
includes that city’s other major historic buildings
and locations. Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdoğ an made
the controversial decision in 2020 to convert the
building back into a mosque. Islamic prayers were
held shortly after the announcement with curtains
partially concealing the building’s Christian
imagery. As Turkey’s most popular tourist
destination, the Hagia Sophia remained open to
visitors.

Architecture

The Hagia Sophia combines a longitudinal basilica

and a centralized building in a wholly original
manner, with a huge 32-metre (105-foot) main
dome supported on pendentives and two
semidomes, one on either side of the longitudinal
axis. Though Justinian’s domed basilicas are the
models from which Byzantine architecture
developed, the Hagia Sophia remained unique, and
no attempt was thereafter made by Byzantine
builders to emulate it. In plan the building is
almost square, but, looked at from within, it
appears to be rectangular, for the great semidomes
at east and west prolong the effect of the roof.
There are three aisles separated by columns with
galleries above and great marble piers rising up at
either end to support the dome. The columns are of
finest marble, selected for their colour and variety,
while the lower parts of the walls are covered with
marble slabs. The curtain walls (non-load-bearing
exterior walls) above the galleries and the base of
the dome are pierced by windows, which in the
glare of daylight obscure the supports and give the
impression that the canopy floats on air.

Like the elaborately carved cornices and capitals,

the marble columns survive, but the rest of the
original decoration, including most of the mosaics
that adorned the upper parts of the walls and the
roof, have perished. They were all described in the
most glowing terms by early writers. But enough
does survive to warrant the inclusion of Hagia
Sophia in the list of the world’s greatest buildings.
Romanesque Architecture

INTRODUCTION:

In the Middle Ages the population of Europe had

diminished by half since Roman times.
Communication and transport, either by land or by
sea, might be difficult of hazardous, and this
intended naturally to divide the country into
neighborhoods. Under these conditions, a great
monastery, like a city, could serve a considerable
surrounding area as an administrative, intellectual,
and spiritual Centre and as a workshop, granary,
and refuge. With increasing prosperity, the
monastic building complexes were progressively
better organized, better built, and more impressive.
Showing the way for cathedral and domestic
architecture, the great patrons of the age were the
abbots, though not to the exclusion of the bishops
and magnates.

Romanesque Architecture as a
whole
I. Influence

History
 900 AD to 1200 AD
 Decline the Roman Empire led to the rise of
independent states and nations of Europe –
Gaul, Central Europe, etc.
 Frankish king Charlemagne crowned emperor
by Pope in 800 AD, established the Holy
Roman Empire, a title which lasted until 1806.
Religion
 Growth of Different religious orders.

II.Architectural Character

- Architecture governed by classical traditions

- Concentrated on beauty and delicacy of
ornamental detail
- Sober and dignified

a. North Italy
Influences of its Architecture:

History
- Milan, Venice, Ravenna, Pavia, Verona,
Genova
- Invasions and trade with northern Europe
through alpine passes
- Close alliance with Constantinople, influence of
Byzantine culture, because of Venice and
Ravenna

Geography and Geology

- Low-lying plains of Lombardy – clay bricks
and marble from hills

Climate
- Extremes of Heat and Cold

Examples:

a. Cathedrals
- Basilican-type churches
- Flat, severed facades across whole church,
masking division on nave and aisles.
- Wheel window
- Central projecting porch on facades, often 2-
storey, with columns on crouching beasts
- Roughly-carved grotesque figures of men and
beasts
- Less refined in character due to use of stone
and brick, instead of marble
- Ornament shows a departure from classic
precedent, showing rough northern European
grotesque style instead.

BASILICA OF SANT’ AMBROGIO, MILAN

BASSILICA OF SAN ZENO, VERONA

BASILICA DI FEDELE, COMO

BASILICA DI MICHELE MAGGIORE, PAVIA

b. Baptisteries
- Used 3 times a year: Easter, Pentecost,
Epiphany
- Large, separate building, usually octagonal
in plan
c. Campaniles
- Product of the Romanesque period
- Straight tower shafts, generally standing
alone as civic monuments or symbols of
power, rather than integral parts of the
church.
b.South Italy
Influences of its Architecture:
History
- Underwent Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Muslim
and Norman rule

Geography and Geology

- Mountainous, with limestone

Climate
- Almost subtropical

Examples:

a.Cathedrals
- Byzantine influence in mosaic decorations
- Muslim influence on use of striped marbles
c .Central Italy
Influences of its Architecture:
History
- Rome, Florence, Naples, Pisa
- Rich in pagan influence
Geography and Geology
- Great stone and mineral wealth at Tuscany –
Bricks, tufa, peperino, traverntine, marble
- Ruins of classical buildings

Examples:

a.Cathedrals
- Concentrated on beauty and delicacy of
ornamental details, instead of new
construction systems
- Resembles early basilican churches plan
d. North France
Influences of its Architecture:
History
- Fine Caen stone
- Pumice and tufa

Climate
- Wintery in north

Examples:

a.Cathedrals
- Remains of old buildings were less abundant, greater
freedom of developing new style

e.South France
Influences of its Architecture:
Geography and Geology
- Abundant good stone, easily-quarried and
freely-used
Climate
- Subtropical south

Examples: 

a.Cathedrals
- Cruciform plan
 - Semi-circular east end, as an ambulatory
with radiating chapels, is common
- Used of old Roman Architecture features

f.Central Europe
Influences of its Architecture:
Geography and Geology
- Stone from mountains along Rhine
- Timber from Baltic shores
- Brick from Elber in the north
Climate
- Summer and Winter

Examples:
a.Cathedrals
- Exhibits a Carolingian and Lombard
influence.

g.Spain
Influences of its Architecture:
History
- Moors in southwest Europe, until 732 Ad
- Continuous warfare against Moors gave a
certain unity to the peninsula
- Christian influence
- Royal ties with France and England
Climate
- Iberian peninsula is a great rock massif – granite,
limestone, red sandstone, semi-marble, no timber

Examples:
Religious Buildings
- Used both basilica and Greek-cross forms

b.Castles & Town Walls

h.England
Influences of its Architecture:
History
 - Subject to Roman conquest, preceded by the
landing of Julius Ceasar in 55 AD
- Ruled by Roman legions

Geography and Geology

- Remote from rest of Europe, dependent on
sea routes
- Hardwood forests and stone
Climate
- Low lighting, severe cold

Examples:
a.Cathedrals
- 3 foundations
o Old foundation- served by secular clergy
o Monastic Foundation- served by regular
clergy or monks, later by secular canons
o New Foundation- to which bishops had
been appointed

b.Monastic Buildings
c.Castles
- 1500 castles in England, in 1100 AD to
1200 AD
- Began as motte and bailey earthworks, later
citadels with stone curtain walls
o Windsor Castle
o Tower of London
o Castle Hedingman, Essex
o Orford, Suffolk
o Conisborough, Yorkshire