HISTORY OF

ARCHITECTURE-III
EARLY CHRISTIAN AND BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE
THE LANDSCAPE AND SETTLEMENT

ROME CONSTANTINOPLE
CITY PLANNING CONCEPT
THE CITY IMAGE
CHARACTER OF CHRISTIAN TOWNS

THE CHRISTIAN TOWN

WAS CHARECTERISED
BY ITS CHURCHES
AND CASTLES.
THEREFORE SYMBOLIC
SPATIAL
RELATIONSHIPS WERE
ASCRIBED TO
CHURCH BUILDINGS
 MONASTICISM AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF
NEW CHURCH TYPOLOGIES

The centrally placed church &

cloistered courtyards.
Cenobitical system
Functions of the church:
Monastic cells
Refectory
Church
Kitchen
Guest house

Early Christian enclosure

The Abbey of Montecassino. concretisized a way of
life
 EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCHES
SPATIAL CONCEPTS
CENTRALITY- Mans new experience of being an
actor in space.

Sergios Bakhos, Istanbul Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem

 EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCHES
SPATIAL CONCEPTS
RICH INTERIORS- Directed character of human
action

Apse

Apse

Sergios Bakhos, Istanbul Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem

 EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCHES
SPATIAL CONCEPTS
RICH INTERIORS- Churches
conceived as interior worlds

Civitas Dei - City of god

Christian existential space

symbolizes a promise and a
process of redemption
which are concretized as a
centre and path

Interior of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome

BUILDING TYPES & THEIR PRECEDENTS

West- Longitudinal plan The roman Basilica

East

West

Old St. Peter's Basilica,Rome

BUILDING TYPES & THEIR PRECEDENTS

East- Centralised plan The Roman Martyrium

Sergios Bakhos, Istanbul The St. Stefano Rotondo , Rome

BUILDING TYPES & THEIR PRECEDENTS

Churches with attached Martyriums

Church of the Holy Sepulchre , Jerusalem

BUILDING TYPES & THEIR PRECEDENTS

Combination of longitudinal and centralised

baldachin apse

Church of the Holy Sepulchre , Jerusalem

BUILDING TYPES & THEIR PRECEDENTS

Cross domed plan (for larger structures)

nave
2

1 5 3

Church of the Holy Apostles , Constantinople

BUILDING TYPES & THEIR PRECEDENTS

All later churches were Cross in-square or

Quincunx apse

6 7

1 2

apse 5 apse

4 3

9 8

apse

Church of SaintPierre.
ARTICULATION