Form, Style and Meaning in Byzantine Church ArchitectureVariorum
Hans Buchwald
ISBN: 0860787796
price: $142.95 hardcover
Using detailed analyses of individual buildings as a point of
departure, Professor Buchwald here examines various approaches to
Byzantine architectural forms, and raises questions concerning
the use of stylistic and other forms of analysis. One group of
articles focuses on stylistic currents in Asia Minor, including
that of the 13th-century Lascarid dynasty, previously unknown.
Others explore methods which appear to have been used in the
design of Byzantine churches, such as dimensional "rules of
thumb", modular and geometric systems of proportion, and the
quadratura, hitherto recognized only in Western architecture. The
final essays pose further questions: what were the goals and
achievements of Byzantine architects, when they transformed older
existing buildings? How, and why, did they use stereometric
Euclidean geometry? And was there any ultimately Platonic
connection?
Contents: Preface; Acknowledgements; Part One: Individual
Buildings: Saint Sophia, turning point in the development of
Byzantine architecture?; The church of St John the Theologian in
Alaehir (Philadelphia); Sardis Church E - a preliminary report;
Part Two: Architectural Forms in Asia Minor: Notes on the design
of aisled basilicas in Asia Minor; Western Asia Minor as a
generator of architectural forms in the Byzantine period,
provincial back-wash or dynamic center of production?; Lascarid
architecture; Part Three: Questions of Style and Meaning: The
concept of style in Byzantine architecture; Retrofit - hallmark
of Byzantine architecture?; The first Byzantine architectural
style: evolution or revolution?; Criteria for the evaluation of
transitional Byzantine architecture; The geometry of Middle
Byzantine Churches and some possible implications; Index.
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