Early Christian and
Byzantine Architecture
Architectural History
ACT 322
Doris Kemp
Topics

Medieval Byzantine Architecture
The Dark Ages
 Middle Byzantine Renaissance
 Late Byzantine Architecture
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Structures of the Dark Ages
Structures of the Middle Byzantine Renassaince
Structures of Late Byzantine
Byzantine Architecture:
Medieval Architecture
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Medieval Byzantine architecture refers to
Byzantine architecture after Justinian
Divided into three periods
The Dark Ages
 Middle Byzantium Renaissance
 Late Byzantium
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Byzantine Architecture:
Medieval Architecture

The Dark Ages
610 – 842 A.D.
 Turbulent, architecturally meager time
 Byzantium’s energy was sapped fighting powerful
invaders
 Fierce religious controversies over Iconoclasm
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A rejection of religious images depicting Christian figures
Byzantine Architecture:
Medieval Architecture

Middle Byzantium Renaissance
824 – 1204
 The empire had been relatively stabilized and
reached a peak in the flowering of the arts and
architecture
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Byzantine Architecture:
Medieval Architecture

Late Byzantium
1267 – 1453
 The Paleologian Dynasty came to power in
Byzantine
 Retained a surprisingly artistic creativity in
architecture
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Byzantine Architecture:
Dark Ages
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Medieval Byzantine architecture becomes a
strong style in Armenia during the late sixth and
early seventh century A.D.
This style is highly realized in the St. Hripsime at
Vagharshapat, Armenia
Byzantine Architecture:
Medieval Architecture

St. Hripsime at Vagharshapat, Armenia
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Built in 618 A.D.
Scheme embodied an intricate configuration of sharply
defined spaces and volumes
Features:
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Domed center
Rectangular shell
Built of Roman concrete but faced in massive ashlar masonry
Provided a theme that most later mainstream medieval
Byzantine architecture was based
Byzantine Architecture:
Dark Ages
Photo: Sullivan
Byzantine Architecture:
Middle Byzantine Renaissance

This period represented a fairly conservative
approach to architecture

Buildings served a common purpose
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A meeting place for Christians serving the ritual mass
Features
Domed-core
 Triple sanctuary to the East
 Ancillary shell of space around the other three sides
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Domes were used to represent Heaven, as in earlier
structures
Byzantine Architecture:
Middle Byzantine Renaissance
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The most common medieval Byzantine church
is known as a “cross-in-a-square” scheme
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Cross-shaped structure within a square or
rectangular plan
Examples:
The Bodrum Camii in Constantinople
 Panaghia Chalkeon in Greece
 Church of Theotokos
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Byzantine Architecture:
Middle Byzantine Renaissance
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The Bodrum Camii in
Constantinople
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c. 920
Poorly preserved
Embodies the cross-in-asquare theme
Photo: Sullivan
Byzantine Architecture:
Middle Byzantine Renaissance
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Panaghia Chalkeon
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Located in Greece
c. 1028
Photo: Sullivan
Byzantine Architecture:
Middle Byzantine Renaissance
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Church of Theotokos
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Located at the Monastery
of Hosios Loukas in
Phocis, Greece
Photo: Sullivan
Byzantine Architecture:
Middle Byzantine Renaissance
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Other plans during this period included:
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Octagon-domed plan
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Nea Moni in Chios
Greek Cross-octagon
Kathlikon Church at the Monastery of Hosios Loukas
 Church of the Dormition in Daphni
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Byzantine Architecture:
Middle Byzantine Renaissance
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Nea Moni in Chios
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Imperial foundation built
by Constantinopolitan
architects between 1024
and 1056 A.D.
Triple-domed
Featured an inner-narthex
with a single dome
Octagon-domed plan
Photo: Sullivan
Byzantine Architecture:
Middle Byzantine Renaissance

Kathlikon Church at the
Monastery of Hosios
Loukas
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c. 1020
One of the most brilliant
Byzantine designs
Interior is pervaded by
light from many different
sources
Greek cross-octagon plan
Photo: Sullivan
Byzantine Architecture:
Middle Byzantine Renaissance
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Church of the
Dormition in Daphni
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c. 1100 A.D.
Greek cross-octagon plan
Photo: Sullivan
Byzantine Architecture:
Late Byzantine Architecture
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Medieval Byzantine architecture was pushed to
the limit during this period
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Some critics believe it was pushed beyond the point
of where balance and harmony were possible, but
into excess and mannerism
Key Structures:
Pantanassa in Mistra
 Parigoritissa Church at Arta
 Church in Gracanica, Yugoslavia
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Byzantine Architecture:
Late Byzantine Architecture
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Pantanassa in Mistra
c. 1428 A.D.
 A domed-basilica
 Two Storied structure
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Lower story was a Western-style three-apsed, three-aisled
basilica
 Upper story was a cross-in-a-sqare church
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Byzantine Architecture:
Late Byzantine Architecture
Photo: Sullivan
Byzantine Architecture:
Late Byzantine Architecture
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Parigoritissa Church at
Arta
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c. 1283 – 1296
Photo: Sullivan
Byzantine Architecture:
Late Byzantine Architecture
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Church in Gracanica, Yugoslavia
c. 1318 – 1321
 Considered one of the most intense and exaggerated
structures in the Late Byzantine period
 Considered a double cross-in-a-square structure
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Outer foundations form a cross-in-a-square around the
main structure, which is a cross-in-a-square
Byzantine Architecture:
Late Byzantine Architecture
Photo: Sullivan
Byzantine Architecture:
Late Byzantine Architecture
Photo: Sullivan
References
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Sullivan, Mary; http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/
Trachtenburg/Hyman; Architecture: From Prehistory to
Postmodernity
Wodehouse/Moffett; A History of Western Architecture
Early Christian and
Byzantine Architecture
Architectural History
ACT 322
Doris Kemp