Byzantine architecture - General considerations

Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine empire. The empire emerged gradually after AD 330, when Constantine moved the capital of the Roman empire to Byzantium, which was later renamed Constantinople and is now Istanbul. Byzantine architecture - General considerations. Early Byzantine architecture is essentially a continuation of Roman architecture. Prime examples survive mostly in Ravenna and Constantinople and include the churches of St Irene, St Sophia, and Sts Sergius and Bakchus, the ...

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• Byzantine architecture - General considerations
• Byzantine architecture - Detailed description
• Byzantine architecture - Byzantine influence
• Byzantine architecture - Essential monuments

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Early Byzantine architecture is essentially a continuation of Roman architecture. Prime examples survive mostly in Ravenna and Constantinople and include the churches of St Irene, St Sophia, and Sts Sergius and Bakchus, the latter often referred to as Little Hagia Sophia. Secular structures include the walls of Constantinople and Basilica Cistern. A frieze in the Ostrogothic palace in Ravenna (now S Apollinare Nuovo) depicts an early Byzantine palace. Gradually, a style emerged which was influenced more by the architecture of t ...

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Byzantine architecture, Byzantine architecture - General considerations, Byzantine architecture - Detailed description, Byzantine architecture - Byzantine influence, Byzantine architecture - Essential monuments

Read more here: » Byzantine architecture: Encyclopedia II - Byzantine architecture - General considerations

As early as the building of Constantine's churches in Palestine there were two chief types of plan in use: the basilican, or axial, type, represented by the basilica at the Holy Sepulchre, and the circular, or central, type, represented by the great octagonal church once at Antioch. Those of the latter type we must suppose were nearly always vaulted, for a central dome would seem to furnish their very raison d'etre. The central space was sometimes surrounded by a very thick wall, in which deep recesses, to the interior, were formed, as at th ...

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Byzantine architecture, Byzantine architecture - General considerations, Byzantine architecture - Detailed description, Byzantine architecture - Byzantine influence, Byzantine architecture - Essential monuments

Read more here: » Byzantine architecture: Encyclopedia II - Byzantine architecture - Detailed description

Ultimately, Byzantine architecture in the West gave way to Romanesque and Gothic architecture. In the East it exerted a profound influence on early Islamic architecture, with notable examples including the Umayyad Great Mosque of Damascus and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. In Russia, Romania, and other Orthodox countries the Byzantine architecture persisted even longer, finally giving birth to local schools of architecture. Neo-Byzantine architecture had a small following in the wake of the Neo-Gothic of the nineteenth century. It was developed on a wide-scale ...

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Byzantine architecture, Byzantine architecture - General considerations, Byzantine architecture - Detailed description, Byzantine architecture - Byzantine influence, Byzantine architecture - Essential monuments

Read more here: » Byzantine architecture: Encyclopedia II - Byzantine architecture - Byzantine influence