The Byzantine Empire

The word Byzantine means confusion or misunderstanding in which this time period modeled. The Byzantine Empire was a clash between east and west which turned into an architecture and design revelation. It was the longest, political time period staring back from 324 C.E. stretching until 1453 C. E. Byzantium was the named used by the Greeks and Romans; Byzantines themselves referred to themselves as the Roman Empire, as it was, a continuation of the Roman Empire. The Byzantine Empire was the political entity that inherited pieces of the Roman Empire. This era were the founders of what is called pendentive construction. This invention was a dome ceiling yet had a square base.

Pendentive Construction

This new form of construction was represented in the famous Hagia Sophia in which consumes multiple pendentive constructions.

                                                           Hagia Sophia



As you can see the Hagia Sophia shows an excellent plethora of detail. Also, brings in a lot of natural light through the use of many windows.

A unique thing that I find interesting about The Byzantine Era is the artists used glass, semiprecious stones, and metals in their mosaics, which made them glisten in the light. In addition to their mosaics, their furniture was also amazing pieces of work like the one below. This was the famous Throne of Maximian.

Throne of Maximian 

Here are some applications of the Byzantine Empire that we might see today.

Student Discussion:

I really liked how Chanel showed a lot of geometric designs in her blog. This was one particular design the Byzantine's were fond of and I like how she made that clear. In addition, I like her modern applications for The Byzantine Empire. You would not think her applications were inspired by this era but the color of the rooms, tile flooring, chandelier, and furniture are all very good examples.


Looking at Lindsey's blog, I liked how she stressed how important the Hogia Sophia was and the structure of it. The Hogia Sophia really was the symbol for the Byzantine Empire. I also liked how she represented geometric Byzantine designs in fashion. It really showed that we can apply an era to almost anything.