Byzantine and Islamic Art: History and Architecture
Byzantine Art: Historical References
During the 4th century, the Western Roman emperors were forced to divide the empire, creating the Eastern Roman Empire and the West. The Byzantine Empire originated in the city of Constantinople in 324, under the rule of Constantine the Great. Years later, it became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. In the 6th century, during the reign of Justinian, Byzantium reached its peak with great political, economic, military, religious, and cultural clout. Later, in the 8th and 9th centuries, came a diametrically opposite time: the iconoclast. But once this dark period was overcome, Byzantine civilization emerged again with a new imperial expansion that decayed in the 14th and 15th centuries and was taken by Islam.
Localization and Artistic Development
Geographically, Byzantine art was developed in the eastern part of the Roman Empire and later in Russia. It includes a period of almost 1000 years:
- The Golden Age: Byzantine art and culture (5th-7th centuries) during the reign of Justinian.
- Iconoclastic Period: It was forbidden to exhibit religious images.
- Post-iconoclastic Period: The separation between the Roman Catholic Church in the West and the Orthodox Church in the East occurred.
In this period, there are two important stages for art:
- Macedonian Dynasty: Very important presence of Byzantine painting.
- Palaeologus Dynasty: Revival of Byzantium and expansion of its art.
Key Features
The examples are clear: Byzantine architecture and mosaics. They receive their main influences from classical Roman culture, Christian beliefs, and Greek and Eastern cultures.
- Byzantine architecture adapts buildings to worship with brightness and lightness provided by centralized plants covered with large domes. This increased thanks to the interior mosaics.
- Byzantine sculpture creates many works, especially in silver, and ivory reliefs, intended to glorify emperors and other important political and religious personalities.
- Pictorial arts (mural paintings, wood, and especially mosaics) are clearly religious.
Architecture: Byzantine Basilica
Up to the 6th century, the model of the late Roman or Paleochristian basilica was adapted. The court keeps the narthex, or cover, and two acute. The gallery or matroneum was added as a new item, which stood on the dones.
Later, with Justinian, the architecture was Orientalized with differing techniques and construction elements. This reflects the use of large domes. In addition, the use of the arch, the vault, and the groin vault or column are elements derived from the Roman tradition, placed at the service of a more luminous and light space.
The capitals acquired cymatium volume with the appearance of an inverted pyramid-shaped piece, which is decorated with ornamental motifs. Instead, they are built with foreign stone and undecorated brick interiors. After the splendor of Justinian, this art spread and dispersed.
Islamic Art: Historical References
The Arabs were polytheists and initially worshiped a number of sacred stones until they found a new monotheistic religion. His disciples took up the teachings of Muhammad in the Quran. Some believed he was an impostor, and Muhammad fled to Mecca. With his death, his successors spread throughout Arabia and North Africa. The Iberian Peninsula was occupied with the capital in Cordoba and was called Al-Andalus. The Muslims led advances at all levels and founded schools. In parallel, Christians were recovering the mainland, but we still find Islamic traces, called Mudejar.
Location and Artistic Development
Extending through the Near East, much of Asia, Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula, this art includes the 7th century to the present. We can distinguish three stages:
- Umayyad and Caliphate Era
- Almohad Period
- Nasrid Period
General Features
Most of the Arabs were nomads and had no architectural tradition of their own, so Islamic art collected art and architecture from previous cultures. It took up constructive Roman features: columns, half-point arches, and two-tone voussoirs. From Byzantine art, it also took: vaults, domes, pointed arches, and lobed arches. From Visigothic art, it took the horseshoe arch.
The art was closely linked to the Muslim religion and characterizes the architecture. Therefore, both painting and sculpture were applied to decorate the field, of which there are 4 types:
- Geometric, also called lake.
- Plant, consisting of small single or double leaves.
- Arabesque, a decorative motif that binds plant shapes and geometric lines.
- Calligraphy, consisting of religious texts written in Kufic or Arabic.
Also characteristic are the mocárabes, premiums placed in a vertical position, hanging from the ceiling like stalactites.
Features of Islamic Architecture
- Buildings of regular dimensions.
- The brick and wood are used in preference as construction materials.
- Use of vaults and domes (ribbed vault, mocárabe vault, segmented dome).
- They use pillars and columns as parallel, normally thin, elements.
- They use the horseshoe arch, semicircular, pointed, lobed, or poly-lobed arches.
- They do not decorate the exterior too much, compared to the interior.
Religious architecture is more important. The mosque is the building for prayer, which takes place collectively. These are made up of:
- Prayer hall (haram), divided into numerous buildings perpendicular to the wall, oriented to Mecca (quibla), and which opens into a sacred niche called a mihrab. Near this space is the prayer space (mimbar).
- The courtyard (sahn) is open and arcaded, with the minaret from which the call to prayer is made and the ablutions fountain, where the faithful wash to purify themselves.