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The year A.D. 313 was one of the most extraordinary in history. The Christians were given legal authority by the Roman government and allowed to worship publicly, and their Church was made a partner in an attempt to preserve ancient Mediterranean civilization. Monumental Christian architecture, a style created for the needs and rites of the expanding Church, was one of the results.
Constantine initiated this era with great basilicas and rotundas in Jerusalem and Rome, buildings that marvelously expressed the nature and purpose of Christianity. By the fifth century the style was well established in both processional halls and central domed simulations of Heaven. In the age of Justinian (sixth century), domed designs became a style in their own right, as at Hagia Sophia or S. Vitale.
This was the beginning of the majestic and mysterious Byzantine style, which by the tenth century was established throughout the Eastern Christian world. From Constantinople, the great city of the so-called Dark Ages, Byzantine architecture was exported to Italy and the West, to the Balkans, Russia, and the Moslem world, together with its magnificent sheathing of gold and glass mosaic. The Early Christian and Byzantine styles of profound artistic quality, have influenced architecture ever since.
William MacDonald, a specialist in Roman and Byzantine art and architecture, is a member of the Department of History of Art at Yale University.
CONDITION: Soft Cover, moderate use with majority of wear to cover, book clean and good condition, previous owner name inside front cover. Illustrated with line drawings and photographs.128 pages, 1965
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