Byzantine architecture

From TheBestLinks.com

Interior of the Hagia Sophia, showing many features of the grandest Byzantine architecture.

Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine empire. The empire emerged in AD 330 when Constantine moved the capital of the Roman empire to Byzantium, which was later renamed Constantinople and is now Istanbul.

Early Byzantine architecture is essentially a continuation of Roman architecture. Examples include the walls of Constantinople and Yerebatan Saray. A frieze in the Ostrogothic palace in Ravenna (now S Apollinare Nuovo) depicts an early Byzantine palace.

Gradually, a style emerged which was influenced more by the architecture of the near east, and used the Greek cross plan for the church architecture which mostly stands today. Brick replaced stone, classical orders were used more freely, mosaics replaced carved decoration, and complex domes were erected.

Ultimately, Byzantine architecture in the West gave way to Romanesque and Gothic architecture. In the East it exerted a profound influence on early Islamic architecture, with notable examples including the Ummayad Great Mosque of Damascus and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.

Neo-Byzantine architecture had a small following in the wake of the Neo-Gothic of the nineteenth century.