The Sekbanbaşı Mescidi or a Lesser-Known Middle Byzantine Church Typology at Constantinople

Cross-in-square churches are an exceptional feature for the middle Byzantine architecture of Constantinople. The simpler variant of this architectural type is widely known from ‘provincial’ contexts but appears seldomly throughout the city. It should not be absent from modern scholarship, since some few examples of this type of church had survived well into the early 20th century. Because of this paucity of scholarship, the history, functions, and phases of these small edifices are mostly unknown. The now lost Sekbanbaşı Mescidi is a case in point.

Seeing the Unseen: Plaster Reliefs in Middle Byzantine Constantinople

This paper discusses the scarce, but crucial evidence for plaster reliefs in Constantinople between the ninth and the thirteenth centuries. While many plaster reliefs survived in the Balkan peninsula, there is room to confirm that they were also used in the capital. Plaster reliefs were a quick substitution for marble, but could also answer aesthetic needs and architectural conventions that continued from Late Antiquity in to Middle and Late Byzantine architecture, even with some changes.

The Byzantine Revival in Europe

The nineteenth-century interest in Byzantium was essentially a romantic revival following the Gothic revival, triggered by the imagination of Ludwig I of Bavaria and his passion for the Byzantine architecture of Italy. His acquisitional taste was taken up by his brother-in-law, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, in socio-political terms, and by Ludwig II on aesthetic terms. French interest in Byzantium was archaeological, connected to what was called Byzantine or Romanesque building in southwest France. Britain’s contribution was highly individualistic, depending on a small number of strong-minded characters who were willing to challenge the prevailing Gothic orthodoxies. Strengthened first by John Ruskin and then by William Morris, it shifted attention away from the “primitive” simplicity of Byzantine work to its simple majesty.

Acceptance and Adaptation of Byzantine Architectural Types in the “Byzantine Commonwealth”

This chapter provides an introduction to the influence of Byzantine architecture on its neighbors, in particular in Bulgaria, Serbia, medieval Rus’, and the Veneto and the Norman Kingdom of southern Italy. In particular, it notes the adoption of the cross-in-square church type in these territories and their adaption of the form to reflect local building practices and aesthetic choices. Also examined are new architectural types that combined Byzantine architectural ideas with local ones in hybrid forms. The influence of the Byzantine Great Palace on palace design outside of Byzantium is also noted.

THE PECULIARITY OF THE BUILDING PROCESS OF ANCIENT KYYIVAN MONUMENTS

The author investigates the building process of ancient Kyyivan monuments. After the wall foundations were laid, the erection of ground volumes of the edifice began. Wooden scaffoldings were arranged at both sides of a wall. The remains of caffolding preserved in the brick fabric can be seen on the front walls of the Transfiguration Church at Berestove and St. Michael’s Church of Vydubytsky monastery. The height between scaffolding tiers as well as the height of masonry between them varies from 1.3 to 2.2 m in Kyyivan monuments. The situation of red schist cornices in ancient churches is dependent on the abovementioned height of masonry tiers. The cornices are placed at springs of arches and vaults, at the level of the choir gallery floor, at the spring of supporting arches and basement of central dome. The location of cornices hence marked the completion of a certain building period. Being put over brickwork at the end of building period in autumn those cornices protected construction from precipitation during winter season. That is why cornices within the Kyyivan St.Sophia Cathedral have “throats” – grooves which are cut along the underside of cornices as a stringcourses to prevent water from running back across them towards the wall. One can easily determine building periods of the St. Sophia Cathedral according to the cornice levels in it. As far as building period at the times of Old Rus` took approximately six to seven months (from late spring to early autumn), the erection of the St. Sophia Cathedral with its five naves and double galleries was continued through five or six years. Cross-domed churches with three naves were built during approximately three or four years. For example St.Michael’s Church at Vydubytsky Monastery was built to the height of choir gallery during the first year, then to the height of vaults’ and domes’ springing during the second year, after that vaults and domes were completed during the third year. The types of vaults used in ancient Kyyivan architecture were barrel vaults, domes on pendantives and domes on high drums. Widely spread in Byzantine architecture groined vaults were not in use in the Old Rus` building until the middle of the XII century. Also there was a certain consecutive order in erection of parts of a church: at first its central cross-domed volume, then apses, narthex, galleries etc. were built. In a year or two after the edifice was built its walls were covered with plaster and decorated with murals. Building methods applied in the ancient Kyyivan monuments of the XI-th century formed the basis of Old Rus` architecture developed during the following centuries.

Burial architecture. 3D dissemination study for a selection of Byzantine graves

<p class="VARAbstract">The former polis of Tall-as-Sin (in the current province of Deir ez-Zor, Syria) grew considerably during Justinian's reign in the 6^th century AD. Its cemetery, outside the walls, presents an extraordinary Byzantine necropolis, where 163 hypogea graves were documented, thanks to recent archaeological campaigns financed by the Ministry of Culture (PAMES-Sirio Euphrates Middle Archaeological Project). This paper presents the research for obtaining three-dimensional (3D) models of graves, selected in the cemetery, by combining information (obtained from planimetric and photographic surveys of the site) with taxonomic features (types of arcosolia, vaults, accesses, stairways...). The 3D modelling process is carried out using data collected during the survey of the graves. These data are then used to restore the surfaces which cover the burial chambers dug out in the ground. The modelling technique was based on generating surfaces, incorporating the different sections and profiles obtained during the data collection phase. The surfaces generated enclose the volume of the dug-out space so that the definitive grave models were obtained using a simple Boolean operation, removing these volumes from a prism-shaped piece representing a portion of the land, thus emptying the interior. The result has provided a reliable and rigorous graphic basis for the design and printing of 3D mockups, contributing to the dissemination of the exhibition called "A retrospective on five years of archaeological activities in Syria".</p><p><strong>Highlights:</strong></p><ul><li><p>Contributing to Byzantine architecture classification in the Middle East, including specific case-studies, interesting both from archaeological and architectural research fields.</p></li><li><p>Experimenting and investigating tools for the study, representation and conservation of archaeological finds, combining 3D digital and 3D printing mockups.</p></li><li><p>Incorporating resources for promoting and disseminating archaeological and architectural heritage, raising awareness among local Syrian population and authorities, allowing them to rediscover their own heritage, often neglected.</p></li></ul>

The Particulars of the Numeric Proportions of the Ground Plan of the Basilica of Eski-Kermen

This paper presents the results of the research of the planning structure of the basilica of the Early Byzantine castle and mediaeval town located on the plateau of Eski-Kermen in the mountainous area of the Crimea (late sixth to the late thirteenth century). In the eleventh or twelfth century, three polyhedral apses with pilasters typical of the Middle Byzantine cross-inscribed churches were added to the eastern part of the basilica, thus greatly changing the appearance of the original basilica, which reconstruction now causes certain difficulties. However, it is quite obvious that this structure belonged to the same type of basilicas featuring the nave and two aisles, one narthex, wooden raftering, and most probably one semi-circular or faceted apse. The designers of the basilicas of Cherson and Eski-Kermen most likely used the system of numerical proportions, uncovered by an architect and architectural historian Hans Buchwald. Although the ground plan of the basilica of Eski-Kermen contains numerical proportions of all three variants of the proportional system of the basilicas of Chersonese, it is not possible to attribute the basilica of Eski-Kermen to one of the said variants. Its central part, or naos (1:1 o.c./cl.) corresponds proportionally to the “shortened” basilicas of Chersonese (3rd variant of the proportional system). However, the proportions of the naos with the apse or narthex (2:3 cl./o.c.) are comparable with the basilicas of Chersonese with “medium” proportions (2nd variant). It is related to the enlarged volumes of its chancel and narthex. Although the set of numerical proportions of the basilica of Eski-Kermen is individual, almost all of them have analogies in the early Byzantine architecture of basilicas, especially in Chersonese, the administrative and religious centre of the south-western Crimea. The specificity of the planning structure of the basilica of Eski-Kermen are explained, primarily, by its small size and the need to extend the space of the chancel and narthex. The possibility of combining numerical proportions in the building of basilicas indicates that the set of these proportions was not strictly regulated, so they were chosen according to the specific conditions and needs.

Review of: Sacred Architecture of Byzantium. Art, Liturgy and Symbolism in Early Christian Churches. London; New York: I. B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2014. 446 p. ISBN 978-1-78076-291-3

Книга Николаса Н. Патрикиоса («Сакральная архитектура Византии: искусство, литургия и символизм в раннехристианских церквях») представляет собой обобщающую работу о византийской архитектуре от эпохи Константина до падения Константинополя. Важность её заключается не только в том, что автор проработал огромный массив материала — 370 памятников, разделив их на семь типов (с. 48) и проследив эволюцию каждого из них и в целом и в деталях, но и в том, что автор учитывает взаимосвязь между архитектурной типологией и наполнением здания, демонстрируя, как особенности литургии в разные исторические периоды соотносятся с архитектурной эволюцией, а также с образным наполнением церковного пространства. Эта отличительная черта работы сообщает ей необходимую полноту. Для Патрикиоса архитектура, литургия и священное изобразительное искусство представляет собой единое целое. Чтобы учесть все компоненты целого, автор делит повествование на следующие главы: церковь и государство; сакральная архитектура; великолепные церкви; духовное искусство; литургия и Евхаристия; символизм в архитектуре и искусстве. The book by Nicholas N. Patrikios ("Sacred Architecture of Byzantium: Art, Liturgy and Symbolism in Early Christian Churches") is a generalizing work on Byzantine architecture from the era of Constantine to the fall of Constantinople. Its importance lies not only in the fact that the author has worked through a huge array of material - 370 monuments, dividing them into seven types (p. 48) and tracing the evolution of each of them in general and in detail, but also in the fact that the author takes into account the relationship between the architectural typology and the content of the building, demonstrating how the features of the liturgy in different historical periods correlate with the architectural evolution, as well as with the figurative content of the church space. This distinctive the feature of the work gives it the necessary completeness. For Patrikios architecture, liturgy and sacred art of constitutes a single whole. To take into account all the components of the whole, the author divides the narrative into the following chapters: church and state; sacred architecture; magnificent churches; spiritual art; liturgy and Eucharist; symbolism in architecture and art.