EARLY CHRISTIAN AND BYZANTINE PERIOD
Early Christian and Byzantine art (AD 30-1453) emerged from the Roman centers of
Anatolia. The architectural elements and forms as well as the ornaments, with the
impressive play of light and shadow characteristic of Byzantine art, were first developed
during Roman times in Ephesus, Aphrodisias, Hierapolis, Side, Perge, Antioch and many
other cities in Anatolia. The figurative and mythological motifs of Near Eastern origin
encountered in Byzantine art were partly transmitted by towns in Eastern and Southern
Anatolia. The cultural centre of Early Christian and Byzantine art became Constantinople,
founded in AD 330 by the Emperor Constantine the Great. This capital of
Eastern Christendom was the most brilliant city in the world from the 4th to the 6th
centuries AD Early Christian art reached its climax in the reign of the great Justinian (A.D. 527-565). The culmination of centralized
architecture was achieved in Constantinople during this magnificent period. The church of
St Sophia, a domed basilica (A.D. 532-537), is the masterpiece of Byzantine art and
constitutes one of the most important architectural achievements in the world. Two
well-preserved funerary chapels, the Fethiye Camii (St Mary Pammakaristos) (A.D. 1310) and
the Kariye Camii (St Saviour in Chora) (A.D. 1315), are among the most fascinating
monuments in Istanbul. The multiple small domes, the articulated facades decorated with
many-tiered blind arcading, and the attractive arrangement of the bricks are typical
features of later Byzantine architecture. The latter chapel, especially, is adorned with
magnificent mosaics and frescoes in a very good state of preservation. Fine and important
works of Early Christian as well as Byzantine art were also created in different regions
of Anatolia. This period is discussed separately in the following chapters.
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