hoa 2

• Christianity originated in Judea
• Synagogues - main place of prayer and worship for the first Christians
• Dura Europos - world's oldest synagogue
• House Church - a typical Roman house centered around an atrium, where the congregation gathered, the elevated tablinum was where the bishop sat and celebrated the Eucharist.
• Early Christian Architecture - continuation od old Roman traditions by Roman craftsmen; re-used Roman columns to carry the arcades.
• Churches were modeled from Ancient Roman Basilicas
• Why the Basilican form?

  • Suitability and needs virtually no modification, Had only few undesirable connotations from its previous use, and Could be built rapidly and at relatively low cost.
• Santa Sabina - dedicated to Santa Sabina under Emperor Hadrian
• Most striking feature of Santa Sabina - double colonnade of 24 columns, made of Hymettian marble, supporting semicircular arches lining the nave.
• The dome at apse & wood panel entrance door (18 panels)
• Early Christians buildings - Centralized plans focused on vertical axis; plan often used in martyria
• The baptistery at the side of the funerary hall (dedicated to St. Agnes) serves as the mausoleum of Santa Constanza. The connection between these two spaces is based on the symbolism of death and resurrection of the Sacrament of Baptism
• Santa Constanza - built as a royal mausoleum for Constantine's daughter, Constantia, and converted into and consecrated as a church by Pope Alessandro IV.
• Dome is carried by an arched colonnade of paired columns with separate Corinthian capitals linked by deep common impost blocks.
• Traditio Legis mosaic in a niche showing a beardless Christ with Saint Peter and Paul.
• Old St. Peter church - stood where St. Peter was buried, the site is the former location of the Circus of Nero where Peter was martyred.
• Old St. Peter Church - consisted of 22 antique columns of different sizes, color and capital supported nave walls on horizontal entablature.
• Church of the Holy Sepulcher - considered Constantine's most important church in the East. Consisted of a domed rotunda memorializing the place of Jesus' death and burial.
• Byzantine Empire - also known as the Eastern Roman Empire
• Ravenna: New Capital of Western Roman Empire
• Honorius, younger son of Theodosius, transferred capital of Western Roman Empire to Ravenna after constant raid by the Visigoths under King Alaric and to control trade between the east and west.
• Sant Apollinare Nuovo - built under Theodoric the Great. With 24 marble columns
• Sant Apollinare Nuovo - named after Ravenna's first bishop and was initially used as an Arian Church and converted into a Catholic Church dedicated to St. Martin
• Processions of male and female saints and martyrs advance in a procession towards figured of an enthroned Christ and the Virgin Mary next to the apse, emphasizing a longitudinal axis.
• Sant Apollinare Nuovo - made use of the Byzantine capital, which where columns from Constantinople made in Greek Workshops
• San Vitale, Ravenna - commissioned during the rule of Ostrogoths, construction was initiated by Bishop Ecclesius of Ravenna
• San Vitale - began on the martyrdom of St. Vitalis and funded by a wealthy individual named Julianus Argentarius. Completed by the byzantines and consecrated by Maximian the first Archbishop of Ravenna
• San Vitale - domed octagonal core surrounded by a ground level ambulatory with a gallery above it. Paired columns (like Pantheon) creating semi-circular niches between pair in the inner ring.
• Decorations of marble, mosaics, sculpture diminishes the massiveness of Roman Construction methods.
• Hagia sophia - known as the "Church of Holy Wisdom" was built under the rule of Emperor Justinian through architexts Arthemius and Isidorus.
• Hagia Sophia - fused with Basilica of Maxentius and the Pantheon. Plan is base on the Roman Basilica
• Pendentive - the triangular, curved overhanging surface of which a circular dome is supported over a square or polygonal compartment
• Hagia sophia central dome is supported by four large piers and four pendentives
• Walls and piers sheathed with marble, an example of application of Roman techniques to Byzantine building.
• Al Ghadir - considered as the most important monument of modern Islamic architecture
• Mosque- from the arabic word masjid meaning place for prostration. In ward looking building whose purpose is for contemplation and prayer (fletcher)
• The mosque is planned along an axis towards Mecca (qibla)
• Mihrab - a niche where the leader of the congregation makes his prayers
• Minbar - pulpit at the head of a staircase; the Prophet and the first caliphs preached from the Minbar but many imams preach from one of the steps as a sign of respect
• Minaret - a tall slender tower used to call for prayer