Sacred Architecture and Art of Four Byzantine Capitals

by Nicholas Patricios

Overview

Byzantine churches are special. They are special as their architecture, art, and liturgy are integrated
and imbued with symbolism, and they do so in so many different ways. The best have impressive
architectural exteriors and striking iconographic interiors. This book is a photographic record of
specially selected churches of four Byzantine capitals which an interested reader can likewise visit.
The capitals of the Byzantine Empire were Constantinople (today Istanbul) on the Bosporus the
major capital city; Thessaloniki located in northern Greece the co-capital; Mystras in the central
Peloponnese a medieval capital; and Mount Athos on a peninsula in northeast Greece still today the
spiritual capital of Eastern Orthodox monasticism. The aim of this book is to illustrate visually in color,
with mostly one-page readable written descriptions, the architecture and iconography of the
important churches, sixty-nine in all, of the four capitals of the Byzantine Empire. Of these churches
the author has visited all except five. Each church is depicted with a floor plan and color
photographs, a total of 391 in color out of the 476 illustrations in the book. These churches of
the Empire's heartland are most significant as they acted as models or prototypes for those built
elsewhere in the Byzantine world. It is remarkable that the Byzantine-style church has continued to be
built even after the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist in Greek and Eastern Orthodox communities
throughout the world to the present day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781666239423
Publisher:	Barnes & Noble Press
Publication date:	01/19/2021
Pages:	426
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.11(d)

About the Author

Nicholas N. Patricios is an architectural historian who has traveled
extensively to study and photograph historic buildings,
especially churches of the Byzantine era. He is the author of the
comprehensive The Sacred Architecture of Byzantium: Art,
Symbolism and Liturgy in Early Christian Churches; Kefallinia and Ithaki: A
Historical and Architectural Odyssey; Building Marvelous Miami,
and has also published over fifty articles in academic
and professional journals. Patricios is Professor and Dean
Emeritus in the School of Architecture at the University of
Miami, Coral Gables, Florida and still maintains an architectural
and urban planning consultancy. He is the recipient
of academic honors, the Gresty Prize and the Heywood Medal, and
has received a number of professional and research awards. He
was a Fulbright Fellow to Greece and a Visiting Scholar at the
American Academy in Rome.