The Beautiful Byzantine Empire

Why hello all! I have not written in a while, due to Christmas break and the starting of second semester. But I am back and at it, and I am so excited for these next couple of months with you :) As you can tell, this post is about the Byzantine Empire and their beautiful art and architecture!

Constantine died in 337, causing Rome to split. The West declined, while the East prospered and became known as Byzantium. Emperor Justinian was the ruler, and this time is known for its great churches. This style of architecture began near and in Constantinople, and spread throughout Europe during the 5th and 6th centuries. The Byzantine tradition expanded for well over 100 years.

The first piece of architecture we are going to look at is the Hagia Sophia (pronounced aya sophia). This means Church of Holy Wisdom. It was built in Turkey between 532-537 AD.

This building contains a dome on a rectangle. This was done by using triangular pendentives in the four columns to make a circle. That is seen below.

The towers seen above are called minarets. These are the prayer towers for the Muslims that remind them to pray 5 times a day. 

The next piece of architecture I will discuss is St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice. St. Mark's is considered the largest and grandest church of the 2nd Golden Age. It was built for Mark, obviously, believing that his body is in a pillar built there. 

Outside of St. Mark's are 2,143 grand marble pillars. I personally think St. Mark's is gorgeous from what I have seen. I would love to go there someday, just not in the summer when I have to wear winter clothes in the hot, humid, weather! In the building, women must be covering most of their body. No shoulders, and long skirts are recommended. :)

Next up is St. Basil's! This church is awesome, it reminds me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. How could it not?! 

The little onion domes have the best names ever as well. They are called kokoshniki's. Such a fun name for such a fun cathedral. 

Next up is the Alhambra in Spain. It is a giant fortress that looks like a ginormous palace!

This palace is most famous for its beautiful gardens.

The last building is the Dome of the Rock. It is in Jerusalem, and is a famous mosque built to Mark where Mohammad ascended, and where Abraham almost killed his son. It is Byzantine style. The dome is built in wood but covered in gold leaf. The exterior was once covered in mosaics, but is now covered in tile. 

The famous rock.

So there are no more buildings to discuss, but there is painting! The Byzantines had their own style of painting that was very far from realism. 

Some characteristics of Byzantine paintings are the bright colors to evoke emotion, elongated fingers and bodies, the use of gold leaf, using halos, and long noses. They strove for beauty and essence, not realism. 

During this time, Islam became more popular and spread. That is where we got our Arabic numerals from! 

                                       

That's all for this post, there will hopefully be more beautiful art and architecture coming soon!

-lauren