Byzantine Period

Time, about 6th to 12th century A. D. ( Byzantium, the Latin name of Constantinople.) Byzantine Architecture is noteworthy for a bold development of the plan of Christian places of worship. It introduced the cupola, or dome, which was often surrounded by semi-domes; an almost square ground-plan in place of the long aisles of the Roman church; and piers instead of columns. The apse always formed part of Byzantine buildings, which were richly decorated, and contained marble in great profusion. St. Sophia, Constantinople ( A. D. 532–537), is the finest example of Byzantine architecture. St. Mark’s, Venice ( A. D. 977), and the Cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle ( A. D. 796–804), are also of pure Byzantine style. Byzantine Painting was that which succeeded the decline of the early Christian Art in the catacombs and basilicas of Rome, and which preceded and foreshadowed the Renai ance of Art in Italy. In style it was based on that of the catacombs, but with a reminiscence of the excellence of ancient Greece; it was, however, restrained and kept within narrow limits by the conventionalities which were imposed upon it by the Church, and which almost reduced it to a mechanical art. The mosaics of the 10th and 11th centuries in St. Mark’s, Venice, are perhaps the best existing examples of the Byzantine period. Specimens are also to be seen in St. Sophia, Constantinople; and at Ravenna. c.