Kyle Blute

 On a Cross From Inside Out - A comparative analysis of Byzantine cross plan churches in Ravenna

On a cross from the inside out

Kyle Blute

Byzantine Cross Plan churches developed in response to a different set of ritual behaviors and objects. The plan for the church was directly tied to the objects of devotion contained within the structure. Icons were a central to the rituals and prayers practiced by Byzantine Christians. Similarly, to how one prays through the image of an icon, one conducts ritual through the building. The structure is used more like a vail. The cross plan was developed in response to this desire to communicate with the divine through an intermediary object. One might view the cross plan church popularized during the Byzantine era as an Icon in and of itself. The formal language of architecture has changed drastically from the byzantine empire to our own contemporary definitions of what architecture and Architecture may be. The forms and construction systems of bygone eras are still uniquely engaging when one begins to look at how that system might have been developed. The basilica church as a primary example started as a roman forum, developing its own unique characteristics and being adapted by Christians for their use and ritual. Yet the basilica plan church is not the universal system by which churches are built. There is a misconception prevalent in building and in architecture today. Being that the exterior of the built works obviously came first and all else was fit into this design. One wonders if this is true or accurate to the designs of churches in the Byzantine Christian world. What if the building itself was constructed around the rituals taking place within as opposed to the rituals and circulations defining the shape and context of the building. Perhaps the defining characters seen from the exterior of the Cross-plan churches built during the height of the Byzantine Empire were responses to the objects and rituals that took place within them. 

San Vitale Ravenna built between 525 and 547 AD  is a perfect example of the Greek cross plan church to start with as a way to deconstruct a social reflection through a built form. The church is nothing spectacular on the exterior. This is an intentional choice. The purpose of a church at least in this context was entirely dependent on the interior. The construction techniques using brick masonry bring about an austere typology for the exterior. The intention is not to hide the building or to obscure its importance, but rather is a discussion on the nature of the human condition as it relates to Christ. The interior of the building is lavishly decorated with mosaics depicting Constantine and Christ and in an almost heretical way depicting Constantine as Christ. The octagonal plan is designed to redirect the attention of individuals from all sides to the alter. Floor mosaics create and lay out specific places and areas for walking. These designations then transfer to the walls and begin to formulate a consideration of the space as it relates to the heavens. By forming the building around the mosaics inside the building reintroduces and informs worshipers of their place within a cosmic plan. This is of course intentional, architecture is used to support a narrative which is convenient to the needs of an imperial power. The churches simplified exterior made in clay and brick states the lack of need to consider one’s own exterior. The entrances to the building invent a reality which today makes little sense, the individual doesn’t matter all that much in the Byzantine world. Relate that to propaganda tiled onto the walls and one might start to think about how buildings and their interiors compared to their exterior might serve to enforce an idea or doctrine. Unlike the Roman basilica church, the cross plan is for reflection internally and for experience and continued recycling of an idea. That heaven is reflected in this place, and heaven makes Constantine out to be Christ and vice versa.

The whole of a church designed in a cross plan is a separated ideological system from the basilica plan building. The basilica served to reference roman architectural systems. The Byzantine cross plan is a representation of a change in thought concerning religious and social philosophy. Theodore Stylanainopoulis discusses the importance in shifting from an exterior idolatry worship system to a more inward style of worship in his essay “I Know Your Works:  Grace and Judgement in the Apocalypse” which impacted the buildings used for worship. One might think about that in the context of these early and extremely devout Christians. “Rome’s ways are marked by self-glorification and the call for a shift in perception to the ways of God is not for a physical withdraw but for a distinctly counter cultural way of life in the midst of Greco-Roman society.” By shifting the system and shifting the architecture the early church was abandoning the pagan structures which were a natural way of life for many early Christians. The cross plan churches served as a physical evidence of this shift. He also discusses the importance of recognizing Rome’s responsibility for the blood of spilled saints. Many cross plan churches started as monuments to a Christian martyrs death or grave. The center of the church would rest above the supposed grave or point of death and refocus the attention of individuals within the building down to that point. Humans of course have a natural tendency to gravitate toward the center of a building if it is round, especially if it is marked. Utilizing this tendency, the cross plan automatically reorients the individual to the purpose and message of a building.

One might also consider that many of the devotional spaces were petit in scale. Many being no larger than a standard two story family dwelling. The church became a devotional object which makes it unique in function from the basilica plan. What happens when a building becomes an object and how does that change the thinking surrounding its design? There is a typical tendency to focus on the building as designed for exterior to interior, this may not be the most considerate way to focus on Byzantine church architecture. As it is we need to slightly shift our attention to the rituals which took and still often do take place within the centrally planned cross churches of the Byzantine empire. The lineage of these rituals will take us to the Greek orthodox church and its services.

The idea of a devotional object demands some attention when discussing the cross plan and Greek style churches. Icons as they are used within the Greek orthodox church serve a very clear function. The object of devotion usually being an image of a saint following strict design and abstraction techniques are painted to be prayed through not to. They are a focal point for a single individual to utilize in contacting their desired patron saint or deity. This careful consideration is important because the object is not and never will be the embodiment of the holy individual it represents. Therefore it is not idol worship. In this way an object may serve a similar function to a window. When contemporary people consider a window we look to the transparent nature of glass. The same is true of the icon, it is simply a glass for projecting one’s desires and prayers to and through. The interior of a Greek cross plan church is the exact same thing, on a significantly larger scale. The building is a place where one is transported spiritually to an elevated place. Churches in this style are interstitial spaces. They exist between what is physical and what is divine. Split by their presence and conveyed through decoration. Even the term decoration does not adequately describe the ways in which cross plan Byzantine churches are finished. Ornament may be a closer term defining the mosaics and carvings, even the lecterns and lanterns as intentional and essential to the function of the space.

To accomplish the expansion of space necessary to provide a glimpse of heaven, domes became a necessity. Their addition and construction uniquely suit the nature of a cross plan church. As far as formal issues are concerned the dome functions as a half sphere which in all likely hood represents the dome of heaven. Usually this dome within the cross plan church would feature mosaics in gold depicting rulers and the holy trinity within a host of angles. The cross plan also made it possible to depict the four archangels within the Judeo-Christian hierarchy as supporting the dome which would rest on innovative pendentives. The pendentive served as a transitional space for structural purposes as well as an ideal way to transition the church from the divine to the earthly. By structuring the dome or hemisphere to land upon another hemisphere and then finally on a cube the church begins to structurally decompress and become less “perfect” by the standards of heaven. Yet the focus was still central, even if the alter itself was positioned on one particular side of the church the central point was still the focus. The side isles of a centrally planned church provided a necessary area to position more earthbound scenes. Being that they were within the less awe-inspiring zones of the church one might see stations of the cross and smaller alters to saints or as luck would have it Icons. These Icons would as stated above give the individual a way to pray through the building to the saint. Its also important to consider the expense of an Icon, one object might take hundreds of hours to paint, and the materials to do so would be nearly priceless. Gold, lapis and other pigments that are to this day prohibitively expensive could be contained within the church. So the building must have provided a hub for worshipers throughout their day to enter and commune with the divine without needing to interrupt services taking place in the central aisle.   

Now more onto the isles of a cross plan church. First it is important to analyze the usefulness of the aisles in a church that does not in fact have a subservient set of isles. Within the basilica plan the main and central aisle are supported by the smaller side aisles. This allowed the uninitiate or unbaptized as it were to observe the goings on of church ritual in all its pomp and circumstance. The lack of side aisles in the cross plan church could be read in two different ways. The first and most obvious way would be that the side aisles are just as functional because they do not contain the dome or remains of a saint, and the ritual processions do not go through them. So it is an implication that they are for the lesser congregants those who are not held in regard simply do not need to be in front of the alter and the structure itself dictates what is and is not for people to be in. If construction allowed the center aisles would also have more light than side aisles which continually reiterates the narrative for god and Jesus being the new lights of the world and all of the liturgical support that came with that demonstration. A more subtle approach might be to consider that when the Cross-plan churches were constructed, no one but Christians who were baptized at birth would be entering these spaces within the Byzantine empire. So the necessitation for side asiles for the uninitiated was no longer a necessity… If the ruling empire is Christian, then one would expect that it would be unnecessary to reference those who are not in the holy light, represented by the imperial family. So no persons need be outside looking in because they have no choice but to join in the ritual as required by their ruling family.

            As a final note Hagia Sophia, the greatest cross plan church to have ever been constructed and possibly to ever be constructed serves as the final example for the heavens being brought down and the exterior being designed for the sake of the interior. Though the space is massive it is the inclusion of interior details that truly describe the nature of heaven which was being presented to people at the time. Light is able to profuse the space illuminating the mosaics which while covered now, depicted the angelic pillars of the heavens. The ceilings covered in gold illustrate and reflect the literal and figurative lights from the heavens. Sumptuous materials form the basis for the internal buildings awe inspiring presence.  Its most striking feature is of course the dome, which while amazing from without, was conceived from within. The dome allowed space to be covered in an idilic fashion to convey the vast powers of God and also the Emperor of Byzantium. The building is obviously an impressive feat of ancient Architecture. It is also a massive ode to the idealized construction of an interior space defining the exterior dimensions.

Within the context of a cross plan church the quadrants of the building can be viewed as representing the extents of the four rivers of Eden, which while largely a theme in Islamic gardens would have been known to any Christian scholar of note at the time. Arches used in the exterior of the building for structural purposes also designate areas within the building as specific in their uses. Hans Buchwald diagrams and expounds on the subjective use of the arch as a spatial element in For, Style and Meaning in Byzantine Church Architecture within the main body of the church however these conventions do break as he describes in the narthex and apse of most churches, especially those in The Church of Panghia at Karina in Chios. A unique structural element to many of these churches is the ornamental brick work, while it is necessary to change the pattern of brick to better distribute the loads of many arches and domes (see the Duomo in Florence) these brick patterns also denote entrances and paths of travel through the building. In each example structural elements extrude from the interior of each construct to the exterior. In this way each section is unique in its formal elements.

It is simple to describe the ornamental applications of a building as separate from the function of the structure. By calling many of the Icons in mosaic or on panel jewelry or even ornament one neglects the importance of these objects in describing the function and purpose of the Byzantine church. The depictions of propaganda throughout these churches by both their designers and patrons serves to reinforce a basic class system that was useful for controlling a vast empire through social means not militaristic ones. If one treats the cross plan like a window it begins to take on another and often deeper meaning when one understands that the church is a glass wall intended to bring the worshiper closer to the divine through representation in a three dimensional space. Every dome represents the canonical heavens with their pantheons of angles supporting the almighty and giving legitimacy to any group claiming that God on high communicates through them, and that they may if in the correct mindset and correct place find themselves in communication with the divine. By breaking the traditional basilica space the Greek cross plan references martyrdom and its importance in sanctifying holy spaces for the church to use. In removing the central and secondary aisles the cross plan also deconstructs the social expectations of a region. Everyone is baptized, everyone is Christian and there are no exceptions and or initiates. Scalar shifts and focus on placement also redirect the importance of cross buildings from exterior to interior. Many of these buildings Hagia Sophia aside, are situated within the context of other buildings and the sides of hills so the interior scale shift from minute masonry to over arching mosaics become more obvious as a framework for interiors. Then Hagia Sophia which is a massive member waving accomplishment and ode to the breadth and girth of the Byzantine empire at its most powerful.

Bibliography:

Buchwald, Hans H. Form, Style, and Meaning in Byzantine Church Architecture. Collected Studies; CS644. Aldershot ; Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 1999

Daly, Robert J. Apocalyptic Thought in Early Christianity. Holy Cross Studies in Patristic Theology and History. Grand Rapids, Mich. : [Brookline, Mass.]: Baker Academic ; Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2009.