5. BUILDINGS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE, MAINLY IN CONSTANTINOPLE
Starting from the buildings of Italy, which
were not mentioned in the previous post, it should be mentioned that one of the
most famous early Christian buildings in the north of the country is St. Lawrence in Milan, which was built shortly before 378 AD.
Regarding Greece and more specifically the city
of Athens, at the beginning of the 5th AD. century it was three times walled.
Its walls at that time had 13 gates. Within its walls there was development.
Nevertheless, the city began to lose its spiritual radiance and was turned into
a small city.
At that time the Erechtheion was turned into a
church. The same happened with the Doric temple of Hephaestus, which was
transformed into a church of St. George. Such conversions of ancient temples
into Christian churches saved them from destruction and abandonment.
At that time, the Middle Street of Constantinople had
arches. A well-known work of art of the city of that period was the statue of
Constantine the Great, in the Forum of the same emperor, who was likened to
Apollo.
The city had, during the early Christian
period, an area equal to that it had in its Fall, many centuries later. Its
Theodosian walls reached the church of Vlacherna and closed with an islet. As
shown in a representation by F. Krischen, there was something special about
their architecture: Inside there was a moat with bridges, in between there was
a first wall with towers and even further outside there was a second wall with
towers. The material of the wall is stone. Inside the mixed masonry there are
small stones with plenty of mortar while outside there are slab stones. Between
the zones of the stones much thinner zones of bricks are inserted. About the
gates of the walls, it is worth mentioning the Golden Gate, which was located
at the beginning of the Middle Road and through which the emperor and the
troops entered.
The Theodosian walls
During the reign of the Komnenian emperors,
with the reduction of naval power, the city limits receded from the sea to its
land walls. In these, at a much later period, the Tecfur Serayi was built. It
is, however, difficult to determine precisely the form of Byzantine
Constantinople. This is due to the Ottoman and newer constructions built on it,
such as the 19th century railway.
In early Christian times, in the Philadelphios’
square in Constantinople, where the Middle Road branched into two parts, there
was a statue of the tetrarchs. The historians Eusebius and Procopius left us a
lot of information about the city of that time.
The church of the Holy Apostles is also a
building of the same period in this city. This was created as the tomb of
Constantine the Great. It was later considered unacceptable for a mortal to be
buried inside a church, so the emperor's tomb was moved elsewhere.
In the wider area of the palace there was
also the racetrack and the Milion (where the kilometers of Constantinople from other
European cities were recorded). There were also the small palaces of Antiochus
(416 - 418 AD) and Lausos, Daphne (on the hippodrome) and the hall of 19
Akkuvites. The obelisk of Theodosius I was erected on the hippodrome in 390 AD.
The church of Santa Euphemia.
In the Forum of Theodosius in Constantinople there
was a very nice triumphal arch with exceptional carvings.
The forum of Theodosius I in Constantinople
In the period 524- 527 AD the church of St. Polyefktos was also built in the city. Its columns were later moved to St.
Mark's Square in Venice.
A well-known Christian monastery of the same
period in Constantinople is St. John of Studios (453-463 AD). It is a
three-aisled basilica with a narthex, about 30 meters long. It has about square
proportions. Characteristic morphological and typological elements are the
pillar, the entablatures, the Theodosian capitals, the shields, the three-part
separation of the narthex and its windows. In the temple corbels are preserved that
reveal the existence of a gallery. The composition of its entablatures
testifies the tradition of antiquity. No “spoglia” were used in this building.
As for its floors, they are much later and date back to the 11th AD century.
*** The pictures were taken from various internet sites.
Comments
Post a Comment