Byzantine Islamic Architeture

Architecture reflects a lot on a civilizations beliefs and customs. Byzantine art reflected a lot on important people and characters, such as Justinian. This art showed up a lot in many Byzantine buildings as focal points. Muslims did not believe to show their god Allah in their artwork, so it mainly consists of repeated patterns and designs. Architecture was a way for civilizations to express their uniqueness and is compared a lot to other civilizations.

            In the earliest use, Byzantine architecture consisted of large roofed, public buildings in ancient Rome and pre-Christian Italy as everyday community buildings (Byzantine Architecture). This included markets, courthouses, covered promenades, and meeting halls. Byzantines used a symmetrical central-plan such as a circular and polygonal shape. Most Byzantine churches contained of sumptuous decorations such as marble columns and inlay, mosaics and vaults, inlaid-stone pavements, and sometimes had gold coffered ceilings. One of the Byzantines most profound churches was the Hagia Sophia. The architecture was gorgeous and contained arches, domes, and colonnades (Stockdale). Art on the walls consisted of lots of people and symmetrical designs, which contained a lot of detail. Byzantine architecture focused a lot on detail and had spacious rooms, mostly for community buildings.

            Islamic architecture was based mostly on climate, for the community, and was simple in design. It was multifunctional where people could live, meet, and socialize. The prophet’s mosque in Medina, for example, served as a residence for poor families (Marin). The Muslims used the four-iwan plan, which was an architectural plan where four vaults open up into courtyards on each side of the building (Marin).  This was used in mosques, madrasas, hospitals, houses, and caravansaries, which were inns for travelers in the desert. Islamic architecture repeated in designs and used rich colors and materials. The artwork on the walls, floors, and ceilings were usually tiles put together in a mosaic or stucco. Islamic art was repeated a lot of simple designs and patters, but takes a drastic and beautiful overall effect.

            Byzantine and Islamic architecture was very similar in some ways. They both used domes and columns, to create large spaces for important buildings. Byzantine art was symmetrical throughout the design, and Islamic art just repeated simple designs, which mostly was symmetrical. The colors throughout Byzantine buildings were on the neutral color scale, with mostly browns and yellows, but still contained a few bright colors for detail. Lots of Islamic buildings contained dark, rich blues and greens, but some still contained browns and yellows. Islamic buildings though have a happier vibe, and cleaner look, than Byzantine buildings.

            Overall, Byzantine and Islamic architecture had their own uniqueness. Both civilizations’ architecture impacted the architecture of other civilizations and art to today. Both civilizations’ art expressed their beliefs well and is admired upon. Architecture is an important, lasting, cultural impact on every civilization.

Works Cited

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Gharipour, Mohammad. “Architecture in the Medieval Islamic World.” Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Medieval World, Facts On File, 2008, Ancient and Medieval History: Pre-1500, online.infobase.com/HRC/LearningCenter/Details/7?articleId=225242.

"Islamic arts." Britannica School, Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 Aug. 2016. school.eb.com/levels/high/article/106442. Accessed 10 Dec. 2016.

Marcus Rautman. "Byzantine Art." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras, ABC-CLIO, 2016, ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1510778. Accessed 10 Dec. 2016.

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Stockdale, Nancy L. "Hagia Sophia." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras, ABC-CLIO, 2016, ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1037449. Accessed 10 Dec. 2016.

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