Form, Style and Meaning in Byzantine Church Architecture (Variorum Collected Studies) - Hardcover

Buchwald, Hans

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0860787796 ISBN 13: 9780860787792

Publisher: Routledge, 1999

Synopsis

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 recognised 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?

About this title

About the Author:

Hans Buchwald, University of Stuttgart, Germany

Review:

'...a refreshing and valuable approach...refreshing, because more and more often art historians are dispensing with the study of objects. Buchwald's formal observations demonstrate, however, the potential value of such inquiry. His formal analysis of Constantinian basilicas is a brilliant example of his subtle and nuanced reading of the architecture... The essays do indeed provide a worthwhile perspective on aesthetics, and I recommend them to all medieval architecture historians... Books like these help us to be constructively self-conscious.' Aurora

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0860787796
• ISBN 13: 9780860787792
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352