Early Christian Architecture

Early Christian
Architecture
During the 4th and 5th centuries, Christianity was the dominant religion of the
Mediterranean world. Christianity had to settle its relation to the political order
with the worship of the Roman emperor. In 323 AD, Christianity become an
official religion.

By the beginning of the 4th century, Christianity had grown so much in size.
Emperor Diocletian tried to eradicate/destroy and he was failed; Constantine
accepted and created a Christian empire.
The conversion of Constantine assured the church a privileged
place in society, and it became easier to be a Christian than not
to be one. As a result, Christians began to feel that standards of
Christian conduct and to follow the full-time profession of
Christian discipline as a monk.

With the hermit St. Anthony, Christian monasticism spread too many parts of
the Christian empire during the 4th and 5th centuries. Not only in Greek and
Latin portions of the empire, but even beyond its eastern borders, far into Asia,
Christian monks devoted themselves to prayer, asceticism, and service.
Early Christian Architecture

Early Christian Art and Architecture:

Early Christian Art and Architecture produced between the 3rd and 7th
centuries for the Christian church.

Most of the early Christian art and architecture is (painting and

sculpture) were derived from Roman art, appropriately stylized to suit
the spirituality of the religion.

An iconography/image of was devised to visualize Christian concepts.

For example, Christ was symbolized by a fish, a cross, or a lamb, or by
the combined Greek letters chi and as a monogram. Christ the Good
Shepherd was often shown as a beardless young man.
Early Christian
Architecture
In early Christian architecture, two types of
plans predominate: the basilica, processional
in form, with a long axis running from a
centered doorway to the altar at the other end
of the building

The centralized church, of circular or polygonal plan, with one large

central space, usually with a dome overhead.
Early Christian
Architecture
The two basic designs in Christian church architecture are the basilica
and the centralized structure. Rome’s Santa Costanza, an example of
the centralized plan, features a domed cylindrical core surrounded by a
circular ambulatory. St. Sernin, the Romanesque cathedral at Toulouse,
France, provides an example of the basilica. Shaped like a cross, it
features a longitudinal floor plan, intersected at one end by a transept.

The two basic shapes are combined in many different ways, either in the form
of a Greek cross (with arms of equal length) or a Latin cross (with one longer
arm, the nave). Elaborate churches may have separate rooms for baptism, for
treasures and relics, for administration. They may also have more than one
altar and subsidiary chapels.
 Early Christian Architecture
Architectural character
The establishment /character of Christianity architecture is came the sources of;
• The Greek temple
• The Roman public building
• The private Roman house
• The synagogue
Early Christian Architecture
The basilica is an ancient Roman building type on which early Christian church
designs were based. Basilicas have a long central hall (nave) separated from
side aisles by rows of columns.

At the end of the nave is a raised platform (called bema), where an altar
typically stood. Behind the bema is a semicircular apse. People enter the
basilica through a roofed porch, or narthex, that faces onto a square courtyard
called an atrium. The roofed walkways on the side of the atrium form an
ambulatory. The early basilicas are constructed with timber.
Early Christian Architecture
Walls
• These were still constructed according to the Roman methods,
• Mosaic was used internally for decoration
• sometimes externally on the west facades for decoration

Openings
• Semicircular arch to span Doors, windows, and niches
• small window, the nave being in the clerestory high
 Early Christian Architecture
Architectural character
Roofs
• Wooden roofs ,covered the central nave,
• King and Queen post trusses
• were ceiled in some ornamental manner
• The side aisles in the churches were occasionally vaulted
• the apse was usually domed and lined with mosaic
 Early Christian Architecture
Architectural character
Columns
• often of different
design and size
• Use the materials
and ornaments
which had been left
by the pagan
Roman.
• Spaced closely

St. Sabina 422-32ad, interior view

 Early Christian Architecture
Architectural character
• churches built on the model of the old Roman basilicas
• Classical rotunda was used for baptisteries and funerary monuments
• Interiority is a distinguishing characteristic
• circular church was originally based on the ancient tholos (used as a funerary
structure)

administrative seat

Roman basilica ,Basilica Ulpia, Rome (AD 113) Early Christian church St. Peters , Rome(AD 330)
 Early Christian Architecture
Architectural character
• Propylaeum- the entrance
• Atrium or forecourt – with a fountain or well In the centre of the atrium
• Narthex - place for penitents - entrance hall of church

Old S. Peter (A.D. 330)

 Early Christian Architecture
Architectural character
• The nave - lighted by a clerestory windows-had Aisles
• from the entrance to the apse
• Galleries-for the use of women
• sometimes placed over the Aisles
• Apse –(rounded projection) the sanctuary ,
contained the "cathedra" ( throne of the bishop )and the altar

St. Sabina 422-32ad, interior view

 Early Christian Architecture
Architectural character
• A transept, called the " bema” , the projected wing
• Altar -elevated from the nave floor, demarking the choir area

S. Clemente, Rome,5th century A.D, rebuilt in 11th century

 Early Christian Architecture
The old Basilican Church of St. Peter (A.D. 330)
• it does not exist today
• Around AD 320 by Emperor Constantine
• on the site where the apostle St. Peter was buried
• Apse –in roman basilica an image of the Emperor
-In early Christian church the "cathedra" or throne of the bishop and the altar
Early Christian
Architecture
The old Basilican Church of St. Peter (A.D. 330)
• Basilica style plan, as the Basilica of Maxentius
• orients the visitor in a strongly axial direction down the nave
• terminating in five arches the central of which was called the
Arch of Triumph

triumphal arch.

Basilica of Maxentius, around AD 306

Old S. Peter (A.D. 330)plan
 Early Christian Architecture
The old Basilican Church of St. Peter (A.D. 330)
• Plan based on Latin cross
• The bema–raised platform reserved for the clergy which forms the transept
• Mosaic pictures and fresco paintings (before the plaster is dry)
• nave elevation usually is composed of a nave colonnade or arcade and clerestory.
Early Christian
Architecture
The Centralized Building:
Baptisteries were also built in centralized form. They were either circular or polygonal,
with the object of veneration—the baptismal font, the holy place—visible to the faithful
from the cloister or aisle circling the site. A typical baptistery is that found at Galla
Placidia (5th century) in Ravenna Italy.
The 5th-century Galla Placidia in Ravenna, Italy, is an Early Christian
mausoleum built in the form of a Greek, or equal-armed cross. This type of
centralized plan, borrowed from classical architecture, usually features a
round or polygonal building topped with a dome. The structures were used
for Early Christian mausoleums, baptisteries, and martyr shrines.
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
The ancient Greek town of Byzantium, which the Roman emperor Constantine the Great
chose in AD330 as his new capital and named for himself. Constantine established
his Eastern Roman Empire
• Developed at Byzantium (renamed Constantinople by Constantine) the new capital at
present Istanbul ,Turke
• Political division ( east and west) also followed by a separation of churches east
(byzantine ) orthodox

Byzantine Art and Architecture:

The Hellenistic (old Greek Civilization) heritage was never entirely lost to Byzantine art
but continued to be a source of inspiration and renewal.

In this process, however, the classical idiom was drastically modified in order to express
the transcendental character of the Orthodox faith.

Early Christian art of the 3rd and 4th centuries had simply taken over the style and
forms of classical paganism.

Sculpture was largely confined to ivory plaques (called diptychs) in low relief, which
minimized sculpturesque effects.
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
Mosaics were the favored medium for the interior adornment of Byzantine churches. The
small cubes, or tesserae, that composed mosaics were made of colored glass or
enamels or were overlaid with gold leaf.

The luminous effects of the mosaics, spread over the walls and vaults of the interior,
were well adapted to express the mystic character of Orthodox Christianity.

The great architectural achievement in Byzantine architecture is development of dome

over a square base and square corners has squinch arch.
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
Architectural Character
Byzantine Early Christian
•Verticality • horizontality
• Grouped around the central space •long perspective of the column
• smaller domes around the large dome •direct the eye towards the apsidal termination.

St. Mark, Venice AD 1042-1085

BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE

Architectural Character
• Different pattern of Bricks contributed greatly to the decoration of the exterior
• laid obliquely, chevron or herring-bone pattern
• Sometimes in the form of the meander fret
• giving great richness and variety to the facades

monastery of Hosίos Loukas,

Chevron pattern herringbone pattern meander fret Greece, early 1000s
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
Architectural Character
• Domes were now placed over squares
• by means of "pendentives”
• Sometimes the domes were constructed of pottery
• In vaulting porous stones, especially pumice, were used
• Tunnel vault and the dome were visible externally

St. Mark, Venice, AD 1042-1085 pendentive

BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
Architectural Character
• the forms of the vaults and arches to appear as architectural features
• Classic orders were dispensed with, and the semicircular arches made to rest directly on
columns
• response to the needs of the Eastern, or Orthodox, church.
• The luminous effects of the mosaics, spread over the walls and vaults of the interior, to
express the mystic character of Orthodox Christianity

S. Sophia, Istanbul ,Turkey A.D. 532-537

BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
Architectural Character
• The extensive use of rich marbles and mosaics caused a flat treatment
• with an absence of mouldings, cornices and modillions
• Capitals sometimes took a form derived from the Ionic or Corinthian
• The entire dome is made up of a series of tiny niche arches

modillions Byzantine capital

BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
S. Sophia, Constantinople,
• by order of Justinian, in A.D. 532-537
• By Anthemius of Tralles and Isodorus of Miletus
• a central space, bounded by four massive piers,2.32 m2
• Piers connected above by semicircular arches

Justinian I
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
S. Sophia, Constantinople,
• aisles over 15.2m feet wide, in two stories
• the upper story being for women, approached by stone steps and ramps
• aisles bring the main building approximately to a square
• The narthex for catechumen
• west is the outer narthex and atrium
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
S. Sophia, Constantinople,
• The thrust of the dome is countered by the two half-domes opening east and west
• Huge pendentives to the central dome
• great piers supporting the dome are of stones
• the rest is brick work
• molded bronze rings encircle the column shafts at their junction with the base and capital
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
S. Sophia, Constantinople,
• two south piers by the arcades of the aisles and galleries and the tympana above them
• Dome is covered by lead resting on wooden battens placed on the brick domes
• creating the impression that space expands in all directions and that the dome floats
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
S. Sophia, Constantinople,
• The smaller domes cover exedrae
• the row of windows along the drum of the dome
• the domes -brick not radiate from the center

NE-Elevation Upper gallery

BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
S. Vitale, Ravenna, Italy
• Built between AD 526 and 547
• Octagonal plan, Centralized church
• The dome is composed of hollow earthen pots
• Small arches as pendentives
• Wooden roof covering the dome
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
St. Mark, Venice
• AD 1042-1085
• About 60x60m overall
• plan of a Greek cross surmounted by domes
• The plan has a central dome 13m diameter and a dome over each arm of the cross
BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
St. Mark, Venice
• Wooden cupolas are added later
• richly colored glass mosaic
• the gallery arcade connects the piers on either
• Equal richness of the exterior to the interior
• Narthex extended around the each side of the nave