HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

CHURCH
ARCHITECTURE
Church Architecture
• Church architecture refers to the architecture of buildings of
Christian churches. It has evolved over the two thousand years
of the Christian religion, partly by innovation and partly by
imitating other architectural styles as well as responding to
changing beliefs, practices and local traditions.
• The most significant objects of transformation for Christian
architecture and design were:
• Great churches of Byzantium,
• Romanesque abbey churches,
• Gothic cathedrals
• Renaissance basilicas
 Great churches of Byzantium

The Hagia Sophia

Has been around for 14 centuries
It's been at the heart of the Byzantine Empire, then the Ottoman Empire,
and now the Republic of Turkey.
 Romanesque Abbey Churches

Abbey-Church of the Holy Trinity

was founded around 1056.
The church was consecrated in 1178, but it was not fully completed.
It continued as a monastery until the French Revolution but became a Parish Church.
Gothic Cathedrals

Burgos Cathedral
Built in 1221 at a very large area.
It is dedicated to the Holy Mother of Mary
and has a unique Gothic ornaments.
Its the construction lasted almost 300
years.
 Renaissance Basilicas

Saint Peter’s Basilica

Begun 1506 and completed 1626.
Was the result of the work of a succession of famous Renaissance artists:
Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Maderno.
Church Architecture
• Buildings were at first adapted from those originally intended
for other purposes but, with the rise of distinctively
ecclesiastical architecture, church buildings came to influence
secular ones which have often imitated religious architecture.
• In the 20th century, the use of new materials, such as steel
and concrete, has had an effect upon the design of churches.
• The history of church architecture divides itself into periods,
and into countries or regions and by religious affiliation.
• The matter is complicated by the fact that buildings put up for
one purpose may have been re-used for another.
Theology and Symbolism of Church
Building
• A. The Sacred Space
• The main goal is to create the atmosphere of mystery and
immateriality, the sacred space. The church is the “earthly
heaven”
• What happens inside is the desubstantiation of the physical
reality of the building (the soaring canopy in Hagia Sophia or the
mysterious lighting of the Gothic cathedral.)
Theology and Symbolism of Church
Building
Theology and Symbolism of Church
Building
• B. Parts of the Church and their symbolism
• The tripartite basic structure of the Eastern church:
• The apse with the altar (the sanctuary)
• The nave
• The narthex or porch
Architectural considerations
• Two Types of Early Christian Churches
• a. the basilica (In the West): the addition of the transept helped
to focus on the most important point (convergence of axes; also
creates a cross in the crossection)
• b. the circular type (In Byzantium and Russia): there was a fusion
of the centralized and the basilica types that lead to the
cross/domed type
Origins and Development of the
Church Building
• The simplest church building comprises a single meeting
space, built of locally available material and using the same
skills of construction as the local domestic buildings.
• A simple church may be built of mud brick, wattle and daub,
split logs or rubble. It may be roofed with thatch, shingles,
corrugated iron or banana leaves.
• Church congregations, from the 4th century onwards, have
sought to construct church buildings that were both
permanent and aesthetically pleasing.
• The church is often built of the most durable material
available, often dressed stone or brick.
Origins and Development of the
Church Building
• In the first three centuries of the Early Christian Church, the
practice of Christianity was illegal and few churches were
constructed
• In the beginning Christians worshipped along with Jews in
synagogues and in private houses. After the separation of Jews
and Christians the latter continued to worship in people's
houses, known as house churches.
• These were often the homes of the wealthier members of the
faith.
Origins and Development of the
Church Building
• The Dura-Europos house church
-Early Christian house church
-One of the earliest of adapted residences

• Basilica of the Holy Cross in Aparan, Armenia

-4th-century basilica
Characteristics of the Early Christian
Church Building
• The church building as we know it grew out of a number
of features of the Ancient Roman period:
• The house church
• The atrium
• The basilica
• The bema
• The mausoleum: centrally-planned building
• The cruciform ground plan: Latin or Greek cross
Characteristics of the Early Christian
Church Building

Plan of Old St Peter's Basilica, showing atrium (courtyard), narthex (vestibule), central
nave with double aisles, a bema for the clergy extending into a transept, and an exedra
or semi-circular apse.
Characteristics of the Early Christian
Church Building
• THE HOUSE CHURCH
• To the early Christians the word “church” referred to the act of
assembling together rather than to the building itself
• As long as Christianity was unrecognized by the Romans,
Christians met where they could, mainly in their own homes.
• Removing walls from the original living room
• The court was not used for worship, however, the meeting hall,
baptistery and sacristy all look into the court for light and air.
• The inward focus of the House Church reflects both the
introspection of the congregation as well as the necessary
protection from authorities that were intent upon destroying the
growing influence of the early believers.
Characteristics of the Early Christian
Church Building
• Atrium
• When Early Christian communities began to build
churches, they drew on one particular feature of the
houses that preceded them, the atrium, or courtyard
with a colonnade surrounding it.
• The descendants of these atria may be seen in the
large square cloisters that can be found beside many
cathedrals, and in huge colonnaded squares.
Characteristics of the Early Christian
Church Building
• Basilica
• It was the Roman basilica, used for meetings, markets and courts
of law that provided a model for the large Christian church and
that gave its name to the Christian basilica.
• An important feature of the Roman basilica was that at either end
it had a projecting exedra, or apse, a semicircular space roofed
with a half-dome. It passed into the church architecture of the
Roman world and was adapted in different ways as a feature of
cathedral architecture.
• The earliest large churches, such as the Cathedral of San Giovanni
in Laterano in Rome, consisted of a single-ended basilica with one
apsidal end and a courtyard, or atrium, at the other end.
Characteristics of the Early Christian
Church Building
• Bema
• A raised dais called a bema formed part of many large basilican
churches.
• In the case of St. Peter's Basilica and San Paolo fuori le Mura (St
Paul's outside the Walls) in Rome, this bema extended laterally
beyond the main meeting hall, forming two arms so that the
building took on the shape of a T with a projecting apse.
• The plan of the church developed into the so-called Latin Cross
which is the shape of most Western Cathedrals and large
churches. The arms of the cross are called the transept.
Characteristics of the Early Christian
Church Building
• Mausoleum
• One of the influences on church architecture
• The mausoleum of a noble Roman was a square or circular
domed structure which housed a sarcophagus.
• Ancient circular or polygonal churches are comparatively rare.
• In Denmark such churches in the Romanesque style are much
more numerous.
• The circular or polygonal form lent itself to those buildings within
church complexes that perform a function in which it is desirable
for people to stand, or sit around, with a centralised focus, rather
than an axial one
• Ancient Roman Pantheon, that has numerous statue-filled niches
became a Christian church and lend its style to the development
of Cathedral architecture.
Characteristics of the Early Christian
Church Building
• Latin cross and Greek cross
• Most cathedrals and great churches have a cruciform ground plan. In
churches of Western European tradition, the plan is usually
longitudinal, in the form of the so-called Latin Cross with a long nave
crossed by a transept.
• Many of the earliest churches of Byzantium have a longitudinal plan.
• At Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, there is a central dome, frame on one axis by
two high semi-domes and on the other by low rectangular transept
arms, the overall plan being square. This large church was to influence
the building of many later churches, even into the 21st century.
• Churches of the Greek Cross form often have a narthex or vestibule
which stretches across the front of the church. This type of plan was
also to later play a part in the development of church architecture in
Western Europe, most notably in Bramante's plan for St. Peter's
Basilica.
The Reformation and its influence
on church architecture
• In the early 16th century Martin Luther and the Reformation
brought a period of radical change to church design.
• According to the ideals of the Protestant reformation, the
spoken word, the sermon, should be central act in the church
service. This implied that the pulpit became the focal point of
the church interior and that churches should be designed to
allow all to hear and see the minister.
• The birth of Protestantism led to extensive changes in the way
that Christianity was practiced (and hence the design of
churches).
The Reformation and its influence
on church architecture
• Holy Communion tables became wood to emphasize that
Christ's sacrifice was made once for all and were made more
immediate to the congregation to emphasize man's direct
access to God through Christ.
• In the Netherlands the Reformed church in Willemstad, North
Brabant, Koepelkerk the first Protestant church building in the
Netherlands, was given an octagonal shape according to
Calvinism's focus on the sermon.
• In Britain during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it
became usual for Anglican churches to display the Royal Arms
inside, either as a painting or as a relief, to symbolise the
monarch's role as head of the church.