Byzantine Architecture

BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE Origin and Development.—In the Too years preceding Con stantine, Eastern influence on Roman culture increased continually. In architecture, the Syrian provinces developed a vivid style of their own, which by the time of Hadrian (117-138) already showed marked changes from classic practice. These resulted from three things : an abundance of hard stone, a lack of timber and Eastern love of surface ornament. The differences in building materials produced great originality in stone vaulting, and the love of surface ornament reduced the projections in Roman carving. (See de Vogue, Syrie Centrale, and Butler, Architecture and Other Arts.) Many builders working in the later Roman empire seem to have had Syrian training, and the palace of Diocletian at Spalato (c. 300) shows how profoundly this influence affected Roman ornament. When Constantine moved his capital to Constanti nople (33o) the importance of the Syrian influence in its archi tecture was inevitable. The germ of the style first appeared in utilitarian works. In Constantine's great cistern, known as the Binbirderek (the reservoir of a thousand and one columns), a truncated, pyramidal block, known as an impost block or dosseret and used as a column capital appears. Moreover, the vault consists of square, groined bays with the crowns so raised at the centre that they approach the pendentive dome in shape. Throughout their history the Romans sought unsuccessfully a method of placing a dome over a square or polygonal room by means of squinches (q.v.), diagonal arches, etc. It remained for Byzantine architects to solve the problem and realize the structural and artistic possi bilities of the true pendentive, which is merely the section of a spherical dome. The church of S. Sophia, Salonika (c. 450) is probably the earliest building in which the pendentive is used in connection with a dome at the crossing of a church.

Ornament of this period also shows many changes from Roman precedent. These comprise the extended use of the impost block, the flattening of carving, the elimination of entablature mould ings, and the development of coloured surface decoration by means of marble panels and glass mosaic. Where entablatures occur, the members of architrave and cornice blend together in continuous bands of carved richness. These transitional details appear in the 5th century churches of S. John the Baptist, Constantinople, and S. Demetrius, Salonika. In the church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus in Constantinople (c. 523), ornament of this new type is first found decorating a domical building of large size. Here, however, the dome springs directly from an octagon, without pendentives ; this church, however, shows a definite attempt to combine a large dome with a polygonal plan of Syrian type and to decorate the whole with columned galleries in which there are many variations from classical prototypes.

With the beginning of the church of S. Sophia at Constanti nople in 532, the Byzantine style came to its maturity; a perfect blend of Roman planning and Eastern structure and ornament. The architects, Isidorus of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles, both from the East, conceived the daring idea of substituting for the groined vault of the Roman basilica of Constantine an enormous dome on pendentives and a half dome at each end. From the semi-circular walls supporting the half domes, small apses are opened out and pierced by arcades carried on columns, so that the sense of openness is tremendous and the great weights involved are concentrated on a few colossal piers. The side aisles are separated from the nave, by arcades, pierced by means of wide arched passages, the great piers supporting and buttressing the dome. The aisles are in two storeys, the second, as always in Byzantine churches, used for a woman's gallery. In front of this building was a long, narrow narthex (q.v.), groin vaulted and opening by many doors into the nave and aisles. The church is a historical one because here, at last, Byzantine structural and decorative genius achieved complete definitive expression. In it complete freedom from Roman precedent is won and the orna ment, even when the effect is produced by carving, is frankly a surface ornament. The richness of this carving is the richness of lace. It combines admirably with the veined marble panels which sheath the walls and the piers, the intricate decoration of the arcade spandrels, and the glass mosaics, mainly on a gold ground, of the vaults, to produce an interior of a character and power hitherto unknown. The success of such a building had a profound effect, not only in Constantinople but even in Ravenna, in the distant Italian exarchate where the church of S. Vitale (S47) is entirely in the Byzantine style. It was Byzantine influence which dominated the early architecture of Venice 500 years later. Byzan tine architecture soon separated into local schools, Constantinople, Greece, the Balkans, Armenia, Italy and Russia.

Constantinople.

In its later phases this school is charac terized by the use of the drum, which is a vertical cylindrical wall, pierced with windows, between the top of the pendentives and the base of the dome proper, which it carries. This appears first in the dome of S. Irene (probably c. 712). The greater number of churches still existing in Constantinople are of comparatively small size, and the dome drum is frequently of disproportionate height. As time went on, more and more attention was given to exterior design, especially by the use of alternating courses of brick and stone, arched recesses and decorative cornices, often in brick. Frequently, too, the walls of the drum were carried up above the spring of the dome, which was covered by a conical roof, as, for instance, in the church of S. Theodore Tyrone, in Constantinople. Decorative wall panelling of geometric marble mosaic, as in the palace hall of the Tekfur Serai at Constantinople, also became more common. Internally, the decorative scheme of the later churches is merely a development of that of S. Sophia, Constanti nople, with gradually increasing complexity in the mosaics, of which beautiful examples remain in the i 2th century church now known as Kahriyeh Djami, Constantinople.

Greece.

In all Greek churches there seems to be a love of small scale for its own sake, quite different from the Constanti nople tradition. Proportions are always high and narrow and drums carrying miniature domes are of extravagant height (e.g., the Holy Apostles, Salonika, i 2th century). There is, also, a love of marble for exterior panelling, used much as the Constantinople architects employed it for interior work. In the small cathedral at Athens, an interesting effect is gained by building into the exterior walls heterogeneous, decorative panels of carved marble.

The Balkans.

Jugoslavia and Albania contain many churches of Byzantine type, dating from a late period (c. In almost all of these the high, stilted character is still further increased by the breaking up of the facade into many long, slim, arched recesses frequently emphasized by painting the arches white against the yellow wall. Occasionally, further exterior richness is given by complicated carving of Armenian character. The lavish ness of the outside of these Balkan churches increased continually, until, in the 17th and i8th centuries, there began to appear signs of influences from western Europe; the resulting adulterated mix ture had a certain naive extravagance, but was without vitality and soon died.

Armenia.

Here a vivid and characteristic Byzantine style existed between the 4th and the i ith centuries. Armenian archi tecture is peculiarly interesting historically because its monuments are built out of cut stone, instead of the brick common in Con stantinople, and is closely related to Syrian examples. Although often later in date, the monuments show forms transitional be tween early Christian art of Syria (such as the basilica of Kalaat Simaan) and the matured Byzantine of Constantinople. Armenian churches are built of carefully cut ashlar, or smooth stone ma sonry; the entire outside faces are decorated with rich patterns of incised lines and softly modulated mouldings, which frequently take the form of decorative arches with no relation to the struc ture. The cross and the interlace were common. The eastern apse or apses were frequently in the thickness of the wall. The most characteristic examples of the Armenian style are the many churches of the ruined city of Ani.

Italy.

In addition to the early work in Ravenna (e.g., S. Vitale, noted for its mosaics) a Byzantine school of quite different character developed in Venetia, from the loth century on. The Venetians, whose wealth was based on commerce with the East, turned naturally to Constantinople for artistic inspiration, but they put the stamp of their own character on their Byzantine work. This is especially true of their domestic architecture, for the typi cal Venetian palace, marble sheathed, with arched windows and pierced balconies, took form during the Byzantine period. St. Mark's, the great monument of Venice, is the second most impor tant Byzantine monument in the world. Here the structural idea, five domes covering a plan of Greek cross type, was borrowed from the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, and built in a thoroughly Byzantine manner, and the decorative marble sheathing and glass mosaics were similar. In detail the Roman influence is stronger than that of Constantinople; capitals often closely resemble the Roman Corinthian; the acanthus leaf is treated with its full, classic, curving relief. In capitals and bands, a touch of fresh naturalism is found; birds, animals and human figures are used with a verve quite different from the convention alized lace of Constantinople. The columns of the screens which separate nave and aisles carry a full classic entablature. The front of St. Mark's, as it exists at the present time, represents many alterations and rebuildings during the Gothic period. Only the essential structural framework and the tiers of marble columns are of the original Byzantine design. The onion outer domes, with their elaborate metal finials, are also of a later date.

Russia.—A style originally Byzantine, but developed in ac cordance with Russian taste, continued in use in that country down to the beginning of the 19th century. (See RUSSIAN ARCHI TECTURE.) Like the Byzantine of Greece and the Balkans, its churches tend toward high and slim proportions. Details, however, show wide divergences from those in Constantinople. Particularly characteristic is the decoration of dome drums and gables with a succession of small semi-circular arches, like scales, one above the other; onion domes; towers with fantastically domed tops; col umn shafts moulded like balusters, with simple capitals; and, on the interior, the frequent use of mural paintings instead of marble and mosaic. The result is an impression of rich and sombre mys tery. The great cathedral of S. Basil in Moscow is a good example.