Because we did not have a lecture on this specific period, I had to do a lot of research because I knew absolutely nothing about it. Byzantine is now known as Istanbul; I am familiar with Istanbul from the Liam Neeson's movie Taken 2. Besides that little fact, I learned a lot about this time period. There was a great influence from the Greeks and that is seen throughout their designs in many ways. Also, there was a large emphasis on temples/churches and they all are very large, extravagant, and have large domes.
Favorite Architecture, Furniture, and Interior Design
Hagia Sofia was one of my favorite pieces of architecture from this section. It is an over the top extravagant church. Something else that is interesting about this church is that is collapsed 2-3 times during it's construction. This church was centrally designed and it had a very large dome which sat on a square base. It difered from basilica form because it was not cross shaped and because it contained a dome.
Another piece of architecture that I really found beautiful was Maximianus Throne, which was made for an archbishop. It is made out of ivory carved with birds, foliage, and animals. The panels show scenes of Christ's life and various aints. It is encrusted in jewels and has a lot of detail.
Current Applications
This Dolce and Gabana ad was inspried by the Byzantine period. This is seen in the patterns and colors on the clothing.
Extra Resources
If you are interested in more information on Maximianus Throne, check out this website!
Student Responses
I looked at Emily's blog. Emily wrote about how she always wondered how these structures survived over the years; this is something that I too have always wondered. Emily stated that of the total 150 Early Christian, Byzantine, and Post-Byzantine churches in Athens, 24 have survived virtually intact. This is extremely interesting and it is something that I wouldn't have known if I hadn't looked at Emily's blog.
I also looked at Lindsay's post on the Byzantine time period. She too found the Hagia Sophia to be really interesting and I learned a lot about this structure from her post. She mentioned that the high galleries that surrounded the high dome made it seem even larger. This makes sense because the dome looks so big that it almost looks unreal, so this puts it into perspective.
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