HIstory of Interior Design 1

The Byzantine Empire

Time period: 330 - 1453 A.D.

Historical Background

Constantine established Constantinople as Rome’s capital, so the fall of Rome to the Goths did not end the empire, it merely relocated its center. Byzantine culture was a continuation of classical Greece and Rome but was distinctive in the way that it synthesized those influences with European and Islamic ones.

Byzantine history spans the period from the late Roman Empire to the beginning of the modern age. Constantine the Great, first Christian ruler of the Roman Empire, moved his capital to Byzantion in 330, renaming the city Constantinople. The state he ruled was Byzant, but the citizens called themselves Romans.

The Byzantine Empire was heir to the Roman Empire. With the passage of time Byzantine civilization became distinct, as Greek influence increased and it dealt with the cultural impacts of Europe, Asia, and, after the seventh century, Islam.

During the Middle Ages, when the concept of Europe developed, Byzantium was in decline and isolated from the West. Thus Europe came into being without Byzantium, the successor to the Roman Empire. By the time Europe was a full-blown concept, Byzantium was no longer a remnant of the Roman Empire, and Constantinople was part of the Ottoman Empire.

Architecture

The Golden Age of Byzantine Architecture was under the rule of Justian in 527-565. It was during this period that the most famous examples of all Byzantine Architecture was built, the Hagia Sophia. The Hagia Sophia was rebuilt from 532 to 537 after the previous church was destroyed by riots . This church has some unique features which became the patterns for Byzantine Architecture for years after.

The style of the Hagia Sophia or Church of Divine Wisdom, was to have a large dome in the middle of the structure. The dome has a unique form in that it rest on 4 massive pillars which are arranged in a square. The dome remained the main focus of the Byzantine Church for the remainder of the empire. The Eastern Orthodox preferred a low light, somber, and almost mysterious mood in their services. The clergy worked often behind the scenes with brief appearances. They did not embrace the loud organs and congregational worship which is seen in the western Catholic Church. So the Hagia Sophia became the model for the Byzantine church because was an architectural style that fit with the type of worship the Orthodox church wanted to emphasize.

Art

The style that characterized Byzantine art was almost entirely concerned with religious expression; specifically with the translation of church theology into artistic terms. Byzantine architecture and painting (little sculpture was produced during the Byzantine era) remained uniform and anonymous and developed within a rigid tradition. The result was a sophistication of style rarely equaled in Western art.
Byzantine visual art began with mosaics decorating the walls and domes of churches, as well fresco wall-paintings. So beautiful was the effect of these mosaics that the form was taken up in Italy, especially in Rome and Ravenna. A less public art form in Constantinople, was the icon (from the Greek word 'eikon' meaning 'image') - the holy image panel-paintings which were developed in the monasteries of the eastern church, using encaustic wax paint on portable wooden panels. The greatest collection of this type of early biblical art is in the monastery of St Catherine in Sinai, founded in the 6th century by the Emperor Justinian.