The Byzantine Empire Architecture

After observing and analyzing the Byzantine Empire’s architecture I made note of several trends that became apparent after looking at the images. First of all, it becomes evident that they focused much of what they built based religion. There Christian roots shined through because Jesus and various disciples were illustrated in the background along with crosses multiple times, most of time it appeared as though they were praying. Also, domes became a recurring architectural structure throughout the Byzantine Empire because the pictures show many domes on top of buildings. Buildings were also depicted as if they were stretched within vicinity of the sky, giving the architecture a heavenly feel because its connection with God was close, literally. In addition to this, bright colors were clearly the shades of choice for the Byzantine Empire because they caught attention very easily and even, the colors like red resemble power, wealth, and also control. These colors made this type of architecture distinctive because it was so eye catching. Also, the Byzantine Empire obviously felt a need to flaunt their wealth by showing it through the extravagant decorations within the interior of buildings and did not appreciate simplicity or the whole “less is more” idea when embellishing their buildings. Mosaics were very popular and common along with massive walls that occupied a large amount of the Byzantine architecture.  I think that their architecture, although seems like it was mostly focused on being decorative and beautiful, it also served purpose and was functional to them because they were useful. All these aspects definitely made this type of architecture different from that of other societies.

                I feel as though in some ways the Byzantine Empire’s architecture is reflected in American architecture, however only in certain places. The dome feature of the Byzantine Empire is repeated throughout the United States, especially in some of the government offices like the Massachusetts State House located right here in Boston. It has a giant gold dome resting on the top of the building, which tourists are always immediately astonished by, which the Byzantine people always tried to accomplish by making their buildings overly lavish. Also, within more religious places like churches, Americans use the same decorating techniques and mosaics to depict Jesus and cover the walls. On the other hand, Americans sometimes prefer simpler and more functional architecture to build like their homes that’s main purpose is more focused on serving a use instead of just being eye-appealing.