Eastern Medieval Architecture The Building Traditions of Byzantium and Neighboring Lands

Aside from Hagia Sophia, the monuments of the Byzantine East are poorly understood today. This is in sharp contrast to the well-known architectural marvels of Western Europe?s Middle Ages. In this landmark survey, distinguished art historian Robert Ousterhout introduces readers to the rich and diverse architectural traditions of the medieval Eastern Mediterranean.

The focus of the book is the Byzantine (or East Roman) Empire (324-1453 CE), with its capital in Constantinople, although the framework expands chronologically to include the foundations of Christian architecture in Late Antiquity and the legacy of Byzantine culture after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Geographically broad as well, this study includes architectural developments in areas of Italy, the Caucasus, the Near East, the Balkans, and Russia, as well as related developments in early Islamic architecture. Alternating chapters that address chronological or regionally-based developments with thematic studies that focus on the larger cultural concerns, the book presents the architectural developments in a way that makes them accessible, interesting, and intellectually stimulating. In doing so, it also explains why medieval architecture in the East followed such a different trajectory from that of the West.

Lavishly illustrated with hundreds of color photographs, maps, and line drawings, Eastern Medieval Architecture will establish Byzantine traditions to be as significant and admirable as those more familiar examples in Western Europe, and serve as an invaluable resource for anyone interested in architectural history, Byzantium, and the Middle Ages.

Robert G. Ousterhout, Professor Emeritus in the History of Art, University of Pennsylvania
Robert G. Ousterhout is Professor Emeritus in the History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania. His previous books include Visualizing Community: Art, Material Culture, and Settlement in Byzantine Cappadocia and Master Builders of Byzantium.

Author's Preface
Introduction: Historical Architecture, East and West

Part One: Late Antiquity (fourth to Seventh Centuries)
Chapter One: Rome, the Domus Ecclesiae, and the Church Basilica
Chapter Two: A Tale of Two Cities: Constantinople and Jerusalem in the Time of Constantine
Chapter Three: Ritual Settings I: Liturgy, Initiation, Commemoration
Chapter Four: Ritual Settings II: Pilgrimage, Relics, and Sacred Space
Chapter Five: Makers, Methods, and Materials
Chapter Six: Regional Developments, East and West
Chapter Seven: Secular Architecture: Cities, Houses, and Fortifications
Chapter Eight: Innovative Architecture
Chapter Nine: The Basilica Transformed: Hagia Sophia in Constantinople
Chapter Ten: Justinian's Building Program and Sixth-Century Developments

Part Two: The Transitional Period (seventh to ninth centuries)
Chapter Eleven: The Transitional Period within Byzantium
Chapter Twelve: Transformation at the Edges of Empire

Part Three: The Middle Byzantine Centuries (ninth to twelfth centuries)
Chapter Thirteen: New Church Architecture and the Rise of Monasticism
Chapter Fourteen: Secular Architecture and the Fate of the City
Chapter Fifteen: Constantinople as an Architectural Center
Chapter Sixteen: Master Builders and Their Craft
Chapter Seventeen: Development of Regional Styles I: Middle Byzantine Greece and Macedonia
Chapter Eighteen: Development of Regional Styles II: Middle Byzantine Anatolia
Chapter Nineteen: Development of Regional Styles III: The Caucasus
Chapter Twenty: Contested Lands: Architecture at the Time of the Crusades
Chapter Twenty-One: The Exotic West: Southern Italy, Venice, and Sicily
Chapter Twenty-Two: Exporting a Culture / Importing a Culture: Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' and Serbia

Part Four: The Late Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Centuries (thirteenth to fifteenth centuries)
Chapter Twenty-Three: The Difficult Thirteenth Century
Chapter Twenty-Four: Palaiologan Constantinople and a New Architectural Idiom
Chapter Twenty-Five: Old and New: Greek Cities and Landscapes
Chapter Twenty-Six: Regional Diversity: Bulgaria, Serbia, and Romania
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Rival Powers: The Ottomans and Russia

Epilogue: An Enduring Legacy
Glossary of Terms
Abbreviations
Bibliography
Index