The Great Architectural Traditions - Essay Example

Old St. Peter’s Basilica

The Old St. Peter’s Basilica was built in Rome, on the orders of the Roman Emperor Constantine, between 326 and 333 A.D. It took 30 years to complete.

The basic design of the basilica conformed to the architecture of a Roman Basilica – a longitudinal hall, which includes “an atrium; a narthex or porch; a long nave flanked by side aisles; a transept hall crossing the nave; and a semicircular or polygonal apse opposite the nave.” (“EARLY CHRISTIAN ART AND ARCHITECTURE,” 2007) The Old St. Peter’s Basilica “consisted of five aisles and a wide central nave and two smaller aisles to each side.” (“Old Saint Peter's Basilica,” Wikipedia 2007) The aisles were divided into 21 marble columns each.

The building was 350 feet long. It was built like a Latin cross. It had a gabled roof, which was over 100 feet at the center. The atrium of Old St. Peter’s Basilica was known as the “Garden of Paradise.” It had five doors leading inside the church. The atrium was added in the 6th Century. (“Old Saint Peter's Basilica,” Wikipedia 2007) The nave ended with an arch holding a mosaic of Constantine and Saint Peter. The walls had 11 windows and were decorated with frescoes.

The Basilica contained the tomb of St. Peter in the apse of the church. The most significant architectural element was the ‘transept,’ which marked the cross-axis to the nave. “The cross axes of the nave and transept allowed for the concentration of attention on the tomb of Peter.” (“The Romanization of Christianity…,” 2007)

Hagia Sophia

The Hagia Sophia, built as the new cathedral of Constantinople by Emperor Justinian in 532 to 537 A.D., is supposed to realize the “ideal” Byzantine model. (“Hagia Sophia,” Great Buildings Online 2007) “It combined a longitudinal basilica and a centralized building, with a huge main dome supported on pendentives, and semi-domes on either side.” (“Hagia Sophia,” 2003) This was the first instance of the use of pendentives, which “enable the round dome to transition gracefully into the square shape of piers below.” (“Hagia Sophia,” Wikipedia 2007)

The building itself measures 102 feet by 265 feet along its main floor. The central space is 100 feet square, which is extended to 200 feet by adding two “hemicycles” covered by semi-domed “exedras” to the east and west of it. These are extended further with three minor apses eastward and two to the west. The main dome is 102 feet in diameter, and 184 feet high. It contains a corona of 40 arched windows, which reflects light into the interior of the nave. “Flanking the nave on the north and south are side aisles, with galleries over them.” (“Hagia Sophia,” 2003) Their massive vaults are carried at both levels by monolithic columns, thus receiving the weight of the dome and its arches.

The Dome of the Rock

This is the earliest architectural monument of Islam. It was constructed to cover the Noble Rock, in 691-2 A.D. in the old city of Jerusalem.

The Dome of the Rock is octagonal shaped. It consists of a Dome which is 20m 20cm in diameter and its height is 20m 48cm. The dome rises to a height of 35 meters over the Noble Rock. The Noble Rock is surrounded by inner circular and outer octagonal arcades. Each side of the octagon has a door and 7 windows. (“Dome of the Rock,” Islamic Architecture Org 2007)

Common Structural Elements

The Old St. Peters Basilica and The Dome of the Rock are, both, built in the shape of a Byzantine “Martyria.” A martyrium is used for the housing and veneration of saintly relics. (“Byzantine Architecture,” Wikipedia 2007) In the former case, it is the tomb of St. Peter, and in the latter the Noble Rock, venerated by Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike. The church of Hagia Sophia and the Old St. Peters Basilica, both follow the basic Roman architectural design of a longitudinal basilica. But, a central or circular type of structure is also found in the Hagia Sophia, and it is very similar to the domed circular structure of the Dome of the Rock. The windows on the main dome of the Rock are placed just like the forty windows placed at the base of the main dome of Hagia Sophia to give it the appearance of hovering over the nave, and, at the same time, lighting up the interior.

Transmission of Design elements and Development of Architectural Traditions

 The Early Christian Basilica, the form of Old St. Peter’s Basilica, inspired by the Roman “basilica,” became the foundation of the Christian church architecture. The “martyrium” also owes its origins to the Early Christian Basilica, which was used to venerate Christian martyrs. Old St. Peter’s led to the creation of a new architectural form of “transept,” which marks the cross axis to the nave. It allowed concentration on the tomb or relic housed inside. This form became universal in medieval church plans.

The Hagia Sophia marked a great breakthrough in Western architecture, when its architects used a complex system for a smooth transition from a square plan of the church to a circular dome, with the help of ‘squinches’ or ‘pendentives.’ So, the longitudinal basilica of Roman architecture developed into domed churches. The Early Byzantine architecture was, thus, a continuation of Roman architecture. The Hagia Sophia greatly influenced the domed architectural style of the Islamic world.

Hagia Sophia influenced Turkish architects greatly. The Dome of the Rock was inspired by it, where the dome is lit by numerous windows. Both these structures popularised the use of domes in Islamic architecture. The pendentives, used for the first time in Hagia Sophia inspired many such domed structures with a square base.