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Istanbul,
Hagia Sophia, Exterior view
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This briefing
of the architecture of the Byzantine
Empire will focus on two monuments built in Constantinople
(modern day Istanbul), the 6th century church of the Hagia Sophia
(Ayasofya Camii) and the early 14th century church of the Kariye
Camii. In considering these monuments, emphasis will be placed
on the development of a new type of church architecture in the
eastern Mediterranean, featuring a vaulted and domed—and
decorated—interior.
The
Hagia Sophia, built under the Emperor
Justinian I during the years 532–537, is a building
familiar to many people, but it is unique in that it is atypical
of Byzantine church architecture. Located at the center of the
city, the Hagia Sophia became the ceremonial centerpiece of
city, the last monument of Roman
architectural inventiveness carried out to an ethereal vision
on a grand scale. To build his church, Justinian engaged Anthemios
of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus who created a monument that
is, at its core, a study in geometry reflecting the theoretical
backgrounds of the architects. Dedicated to the concept of "Holy
Wisdom", the Hagia Sophia may be seen, perhaps, more than anything
else as a symbol of Justinian's rule.
The
Kariye Camii was originally the main church of the Chora Monastery,
one of the oldest and most important religious foundations of
Byzantine Constantinople. A complex building with a complicated
history, the most important and best documented period occurs
around 1315 when the statesman and scholar Theodore Metochites
undertook the restoration and renovation of the Chora. The Kariye
Camii contains one of the richest and best preserved pictorial
cycles that portrayed, according to Metochites, "in mosaics
and painting, how the Lord Himself became a mortal man on our
behalf." Accordingly, the elaborate program includes Old Testament
ancestors of Christ, Old Testament prefigurations of the Virgin
foretelling the miraculous virgin birth, cycles of the lives
of the Virgin and Christ, and the Last Judgment.
Recommended Reading: Robert Ousterhout, "An Apologia for Byzantine
Architecture," Gesta 25 (1996), pp. 20–29. This article
examines the marginalization of Byzantine architecture within
the broader study of medieval architecture. It is very likely
that there was more interchange of ideas between Byzantium and
the West than is generally assumed by modern scholarship.
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