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Early Christian and

Byzantine ArchitectureArchitectural History

ACT 322Doris Kemp

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Topics

Early Christian Architecture

Rome Structures

Structures in the Holy Lands Milan Structures

Ravenna Structures

Structures in Greece, Syria, and the Rhineland

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Early Christian Architecture

The most crucial period of Christianity was thefirst three centuries A.D.

Officially recognized as the state religion of Rome in326 A.D. by the Roman Emperor Constantine

Replaced Paganism

First Christian architecture was modest in scope and

served two needs: Provided a space for spiritual needs of the living

Provided a burial place for the dead

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Early Christian Architecture

Early Christian meeting places were actually set-up inpreexisting apartments or homes

These locations were known as titilus

Most were rebuilt into full scale churches Best known early Christian architecture are the burial

places, known as catacombs

Early Christians were quite poor

Burial was provided in individual shelf tombs or private

family chambers

Usually located beneath churches

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Early Christian Architecture

Open air cemeteries were also in existence

Actually preferred over the dreary catacombs

Vatican Hill

Modest monument of the late second century

Said to have marked the grave of Saint Peter

Now occupied by the church of Saint Peter

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Early Christian Architecture:

Rome and the Holy Land

Roman Structures

Lateran

Constantine donated this structure to be seat of the

Bishop of Rome (The Pope)

Built around 313 A.D., prior to the official establishmentof Christianity in Rome

The first important Christian structure in Rome

Has been rebuilt, leaving only its foundations andhistorical evidence as to its original form

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Early Christian Architecture:

Rome and the Holy Land

Roman Structures

(Old) St. Peters Church

Considered the most important basilican church built by

Constantine

Building began around 333 A.D.

Located on the slope of the Vatican Hill in Rome

Covers a cemetery and features a shrine to Saint Peter,whom is presumably buried there

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Early Christian Architecture:

Rome and the Holy Land

Photo: Sullivan

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Early Christian Architecture:

Rome and the Holy Land

Structures in the Holy Lands

Constantine also built many structures in the HolyLands

Church of the Nativity

Built in Bethlehem as a shrine to honor Christ

Replaced in the sixth century A.D. with the modernstructure

Very similar to St. Peters but on a much smaller scale

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Early Christian Architecture:

Rome and the Holy Land

Photo: Sullivan

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Early Christian Architecture:

Rome and the Holy Land

Structures in the Holy Lands

Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Built to honor the burial place of Christ

More elaborate than the Church of the Nativity

Had been instructed by Constantine to be a basilica more

beautiful than any on Earth

Surrounded the Holy Sepulcher

Believed to be the burial place of Christ

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Early Christian Architecture:

Rome and the Holy Land

Photo: Sullivan

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Early Christian Architecture:

Rome and the Holy Land

Structures in the Holy Lands

Anastasis Rotunda

Located in Jerusalem

Built to honor the resurrection of Christ

Middle Age representations of Christs tomb are almost all

based on this structure

Built by Constantine, or possibly his sons, in the fourth

century A.D.

An addition to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

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Early Christian Architecture:

Rome and the Holy Land

Photo: Sullivan

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Early Christian Architecture:

Milan and Ravenna

Milan Emerged as a major architectural center in the early

Christian period

After Constantine moved the seat of the RomanEmpire to Constantinople (modern day Istanbul),Milan became the capitol of the Western Empire,replacing Rome.

A number of important churches were built afterMilan was recognized as the spiritual capitol of the

West

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Early Christian Architecture:

Milan and Ravenna

Structures in Milan

Church of the Holy Apostles

St. Ambrose laid out the design of this church

A huge, cross-shaped structure

Housed relics of the apostles in a silver casket beneath themain altar

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Early Christian Architecture:

Milan and Ravenna

Structures in Milan

Church of S. Lorenzo

Built around 370 A.D.

Most scholars believe that it was used as the officialchapel of the Imperial Palace in Milan

Based on a Constantinian model

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Early Christian Architecture:

Milan and Ravenna

Photo: Sullivan

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Early Christian Architecture:

Milan and Ravenna

Ravenna

In 402, Emperor Honorius transferred the WesternCapitol from Milan to Ravenna

Ravenna became the residence of the Ostrogothking Theodoric and his followers

Maintained close contact with Byzantine East (the EasternEmpire based in Constantinople)

Gained much influence from the East ion architecture

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Early Christian Architecture:

Milan and Ravenna

Structures in Ravenna

Mausoleum of GallaPlacidia

Built around 425 A.D.

Featured a cross-shapedplan

Small but perfectlypreserved

Photo: Sullivan

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Early Christian Architecture:

Milan and Ravenna

Photo: Sullivan

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Early Christian Architecture:

Milan and Ravenna

Structures in Ravenna

Orthodox Babtistery

Built between 400450 A.D

Featured a wealth of internal ornamentation on the wallsurfaces

Uncommon at this time

Features a dome overhead that depicts the baptism of

Christ

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Early Christian Architecture:

Milan and Ravenna

Photo: Sullivan

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Early Christian Architecture:

Milan and Ravenna

Structures in Ravenna

Tomb of King Theodoric

Reflects the unique political and cultural status of

Ravenna during this time period Features a two storied interior

Cruciform chamber below

Circular structure above

Probably required laborers from Syria who, at the time,were the only people versed in the technique of massiveashlar construction

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Early Christian Architecture:

Milan and Ravenna

Photo: Sullivan

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Early Christian Architecture:

Greece, Syria, and the Rhineland

Structures in Greece, Syria, and the Rhineland

Hagios Demetrios

Salonika, Greece

Considered the most imposing early Christian church inthe Greek-speaking eastern Mediterranean

Has been restored after a fire in 1917 A.D.

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Early Christian Architecture:

Greece, Syria, and the Rhineland

Photo: Sullivan

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Early Christian Architecture:

Greece, Syria, and the Rhineland

Structures in Greece, Syria, and the Rhineland

St. Simeon Stylites

Located in Qalat Siman, Syria

Built around 470

Constructed of heavy ashlar masonry

Grandiose in size, but simple in scheme

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Early Christian Architecture:

Greece, Syria, and the Rhineland

Photo: Sullivan

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Early Christian Architecture:

Greece, Syria, and the Rhineland

Structures in Greece, Syria, and the Rhineland

Church in Qalb Louzeh

Located in Syria

Built around 500 A.D.

Hints at the beginnings of the Romanesque style ofarchitecture

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Early Christian Architecture:

Greece, Syria, and the Rhineland

Photo: Sullivan

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Early Christian Architecture:

Greece, Syria, and the Rhineland

Structures in Greece, Syria, and the Rhineland

The early Christian structures in the Rhineland laidthe foundations for later Medieval architecture

Rhineland maintained close architectural ties withMilan

St. Gereon

Located in Cologne Originally constructed as a double cathedral

Underwent major reconstruction in 380

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Early Christian Architecture:

Greece, Syria, and the Rhineland

Photo: Sullivan

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References

Sullivan, Mary; http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/wdpt1.html

Trachtenburg/Hyman; Architecture: From Prehistory toPostmodernity

Wodehouse/Moffett; A History of Western Architecture

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Early Christian and

Byzantine ArchitectureArchitectural History

ACT 322Doris Kemp

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Architecture[edit]

Piazza dell'Esquilino with the apse area of Santa Maria Maggiore.The original architecture of Santa Maria Maggiore was classical and traditionallyRomanperhaps to convey the idea that Santa MariaMaggiore represented old imperial Rome as well as itsChristianfuture. As one scholar puts it, Santa Maria Maggiore so closelyresembles a second-century imperialbasilicathat it has sometimes been thought to have been adapted from a basilica for use as a

Christian church. Its plan was based on Hellenisticprinciples stated byVitruviusat the time ofAugustus.[30]

Even though Santa Maria Maggiore is immense in its area, it was built to plan. The design of the basilica was a typical one during thistime in Rome: a tall and wide nave; an aisle on either side; and a semicircular apse at the end of the nave.[24]The key aspect that

made Santa Maria Maggiore such a significant cornerstone in church building during the early 5th century were thebeautifulmosaicsfound on the triumphal arch and nave.

The Athenian marble columns supporting the nave are even older, and either come from the first basilica, or from another antique

Roman building; thirty-six are marble and four granite, pared down, or shortened to make them identical by Ferdinando Fuga, whoprovided them with identical gilt-bronze capitals.[31]The 14th centurycampanile, or bell tower, is the highest in Rome, at 240 feet,(about 75 m.). The basilica's 16th-century coffered ceiling, to a design byGiuliano da Sangallo, is said to be gilded with Inca gold

presented byFerdinand and Isabellato the Spanish pope, initially brought byChristopher Columbus[citation needed],AlexanderVI(something which factually is erroneous, since the Inca empire was conquered during the reign of Charles V). The apse mosaic,theCoronation of the Virgin, is from 1295, signed by theFranciscanfriar,Jacopo Torriti. The Basilica also contains frescoesbyGiovanni Baglione, in the Cappella Borghese.The 12th-century faade has been masked by a reconstruction, with a screening loggia, that were added by Pope Benedict XIVin1743, to designs byFerdinando Fugathat did not damage the mosaics of the faade. The wing of thecanonica(sacristy) to its leftand a matching wing to the right (designed byFlaminio Ponzio) give the basilica's front the aspect of a palace facingPiazza SantaMaria Maggiore. To the right of the Basilica's faade is a memorial representing a column in the form of an up-ended cannon barreltopped with a cross: it was erected byPope Clement VIIIto celebrate the end of theFrench Wars of Religion[1].

The Marian column erected in 1614, to designs ofCarlo Madernois the model for numerousMarian columnserected in Catholiccountries in thanksgiving for remission of theplagueduring theBaroqueera. (An example is theHoly Trinity Column in Olomouc,theCzech Republic). The column itself is the sole remaining from Constantine'sBasilica of Maxentius and ConstantineinCampoVaccino, as the Roman Forum was called until the 18th century[2]; Maderno's fountain at the base combines the armorial eagles and

dragons of Paul V.

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s. catherines monasterythe monastic church dates from the reign of St.Justinian. Its architect, Stephen of Aila, built a

three-aisled, wood-roofed, basalt basilica, with carved capitals on the nave columns which arederived from the Corinthian order. The variation in the capitals there seem to be a deliberatechoice, rather than the result of using columns from other buildings (which can be seen in otherstructures). The basilica has five side chapels, and towers flank the west end of the church. Thesacred bushis left growing in the open beyond the east end of the building.The monastery church has seen little essential change since the time of its imperial founder. Its

great western portal is still closed by the original 1400 year old wooden door, which still functionsperfectly on its first pins and hinges. The wood roof of the nave, also of 6th century construction,rests on beams that bear inscriptions honoring Justinian and his famous wifeTheodora. Theseinscriptions had been reported by travelers as far back as the 18th century, but not until a 1958expedition was a careful study made of them in relation to the church structure. The inscriptionsmention "our most pious Emperor" Justinian and his "late Empress" Theodora. Theodora died in

548 and Justinian in 565, so that the church was completed between those years.There are the remnants of a 10th or 11th century Fatimid mosque within the walls of themonastery, probably built to appease Muslim authorities of the time. Recent excavations withinthe mosque's walls have yielded evidence that the building predates its use as a mosque, however,as architectural and ornamental crosses and other Christian symbols have been found within.There is also a small chapelcalled the Chapel of St. Tryphon which serves as an ossuary for the

skulls of deceased monastics.

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