Byzantine
Empire and Muslim Empire Compare: Religious Architecture
Alike in many ways, the Churches of the
Byzantine Empire and the Islamic Mosques can be used almost
interchangeably.
This was proven by the Muslims when Hagia Sophia (1). a Christian
Church in the former Byzantine Empire, was converted into a mosque just by
painting the walls over with white-wash. The image in Figure 1 is Hagia Sophia;
a church that was constructed for the Christian faith; was later converted to a
mosque. Hagia Sophia inspired the creation of a mosque, seen in Figure 2, The
Blue Mosque. But both the church and the
mosque were built for beauty. Procopius, an antique scholar, said that it was stunning
and grand, dwarfing all else. Another person remarked quite like Procopius did
saying that The Blue Mosque eclipsed even the most beautiful mosques.
Hagia Sophia, as seen in the picture, has four
spires called minarets rising from the main building as decoration. Huda states in his article on Islamic Mosque Archetecture that the
minarets have a scalloped design around the side; that is seen in the design of
The Blue Mosque as well. At the top pointed, not rounded turrets cap the
spires. Circular domes surrounding the
main dome on lower levels cover other buildings leading to the main building;
this is similar to, but not quite like the other. The Hagia Sophia has domes topping
the buildings connected to the main one around the base. Archways serve as
doors and windows for all the levels.
The Blue Mosque, in this photograph, has six
spires and domes surrounding the main building closer than the ones in Hagia
Sophia. There are less blocks used in the making of this, and more smaller domes. The
domes are more incorporated into the actual building than the other one, although there are more windows in this building, they are not as big as the
ones in Hagia Sophia, though both have arch-type windows.
Figure #1- (Hagia Sophia)
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/ql1RAeXQnsuT_TEfnr-OzEL3cldcExdHT5FfuFOMRNHT1poBq4DdrwK0g_48ZRONjYU9tGiN_eNXyADyItctb4V_cplR5U5Bmf2-06NYadoJmFuYXSJn9aI1Ww
Figure #2- (The Blue Mosque)
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/iNHZ5GRdVWFVkH1zFUK8EuClTZPMyzjUU49R7jP92cQSu7r_ItYBS-bVCTVfIa55WdnP3QjiJJ5T5H9P-qSuwRhr7B33cWWEi79v75IJDunZnQiZsA5MAeYIBw
On the outside they are more similar than they
are on the inside due to the art, and the layout of the furniture.
It is so easy to interchange the
Islamic Mosque and the Byzantine Church because, in the Middle East at this
time, main center domes built on top of symmetric bases with minarets
surrounding it. (Minaret: spires)
On the inside of a typical,
traditional Islamic mosque there are patterns of flowers or shapes on the
inside of the dome. The ancient Muslims, could not draw, paint, or do any art with the subject as a person. Because they believed God was the only one who could use his image to create something.That is why the art on the walls of their mosques did not display any art of people, it is also why they put white wash over the mosaics of Jesus and angels when they converted the church Hagia Sophia. On the other hand, in Byzantine Churches it was very
popular to put mosaics of the scenes of the Bible on the walls.
In both religions, there is no
predetermined, mandatory way that a church or mosque has to look. There is no
religious factor in why they chose the way it was built other than it was
convenient and beautiful.
Works Cited-
Richard T. Nowitz/Corbis; Spectrum Color
Library/Heritage-Images; ©Payle Marjanovic/Shutterstock.com
Barbu, Constantin. The Blue Mosque at Sunset . 2006. Photograph.
WikipediaWeb. 4 Dec 2013.
Brown, Robert . Hagia Sophia Interior . 2009. Photograph. Medieval
Civilization: Lecture Notes Web. 4 Dec 2013.
Cravan, Jackie .
"Architecture ." About.com.
About.com, 19 Jul 2013. Web. 5 Dec 2013.
Huda, .
"Islamic Mosque Architecture ." About.com.
About.com, n.d. Web. 5 Dec 2013.
Meydani,
Sultanahmet. "Hagia Sophia."www.hagiasophia.com. N.p., n.d.
Web. 6 Dec 2013.
Norwich , John . Great Architecture of the World . London : Mitchell Beazley
Publishers Limited, 1979. 84-85 and 130-131. Print.
Sloan, Anna.
"Construction of Istanbul’s Nur-u Osmaniye Complex." Great Events from History: The
Eighteenth Century. Ed. Powell John. 2 vols. Salem Press, 2006. Salem History Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
"Procopius: quote on Hagia
Sophia." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
Brooks , Sarah. "The Byzantine State under
Justinian I." The
Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, n.d. Web. 11
Dec 2013.
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