Byzantine Churches in Constantinople: Their History and Architecture — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Byzantine Churches in Constantinople: Their History and Architecture
John Stuart Mill · en
_The Interior._--The natural division, in height, of an early church,
whether basilican or domical, was into three stories--the ground level,
the gallery level, and the clearstory or vault level. In the West these
structural divisions were developed into the triple composition of
nave-arcade, triforium, and clearstory. In the East, in conjunction with
the dome, these divisions survive in many examples of the later period.
Still, Byzantine architecture was more concerned with spaces than with
lines. Large surfaces for marble, painting, or mosaic were of prime
importance, and with the disappearance of the gallery the string-course
marking the level of the gallery also tended to disappear. In churches
with galleries, like S. Theodosia (p. 170) and S. Mary Diaconissa (p.
185), the string-courses fulfil their function, the first marking the
gallery level, the second the springing of the vault. In SS. Peter and
Mark (p. 193), which has no gallery, there is only one string-course,
corresponding in level to the original gallery string-course;
accordingly the main arches are highly stilted above it. The absence of
the second string-course is a faulty development, for a string-course at
the vault level would be a functional member, whereas at the gallery
level it is meaningless.
In the Panachrantos (p. 130), as well as in other churches without a
gallery, the gallery string-course is omitted by a more logical
development, and the string-course at the springing of the vault is
retained. Openings which do not cut into the vault are then frankly
arched, without impost moulding of any kind. Simple vaulted halls,
narthexes, and passages have usually a string-course at the vaulting
level, broken round shallow pilasters as at the Chora, S. Theodosia, and
the Myrelaion. Sometimes the string-courses or the pilasters or both are
omitted, and their places are respectively taken by horizontal and
vertical bands. Decorative pilasters flush with the wall are employed in
the marble incrustation of S. Sophia.