Overview

Using detailed analyses of individual buildings, Hans Buchwald examines the various approaches to Byzantine architectural forms. One group of articles focuses on stylistic currents in Asia Minor, including that of the 13th-century Lascarid dynasty, previously unknown. Others explore methods which appear to have been used in the design of Byzantine churches, such as dimensional ""rules of thumb"", modular and geometric systems of proportion, and the ""quadratura"", hitherto recognized only in Western architecture. The final essays pose further questions: what were the aims of Byzantine architects in their transformations of older existing buildings? How and why did they use stereometric Euclidean geometry? And was there any ultimately Platonic connection?

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9780860787792

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Reviews

'...a refreshing and valuable approach...refreshing, because more and more often art historians are dispensing with the study of objects. Buchwald's formal observations demonstrate, however, the potential value of such inquiry. His formal analysis of Constantinian basilicas is a brilliant example of his subtle and nuanced reading of the architecture... The essays do indeed provide a worthwhile perspective on aesthetics, and I recommend them to all medieval architecture historians... Books like these help us to be constructively self-conscious.' Aurora

'...a refreshing and valuable approach...refreshing, because more and more often art historians are dispensing with the study of objects. Buchwald's formal observations demonstrate, however, the potential value of such inquiry. His formal analysis of Constantinian basilicas is a brilliant example of his subtle and nuanced reading of the architecture... The essays do indeed provide a worthwhile perspective on aesthetics, and I recommend them to all medieval architecture historians.... Books like these help us to be constructively self-conscious.' Aurora

Author Information

Hans Buchwald, University of Stuttgart, Germany

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