W. R. Lethaby

“ And as an island rises amidst the swelling billows, bright with patterns of cornfields, and vineyards, and blossoming meadows, and wooded heights, while sailors, as they steer by it, are gladdened, and the troubles and anxieties of the sea are beguiled; so in the middle space of the boundless temple rises upright the tower-like ambo of stone, with its marble pastures like meadows, cunningly wrought with the beauty of the craftsman’s art. ”

“ Near the aisles too, alongside the columns, they have hung in order single lamps (lampter) apart one from another; and through the whole length of the far-stretching nave is their path. Beneath each they have placed a silver vessel, like a balance pan, and in the centre of this rests a cup of well-burning oil.
“There is not however one equal level for all the lamps, for you may see some high, some low, in comely curves of light; and from twisted chains they sweetly flash in their aerial courses, even as shines twin-pointed Hyas fixed in the forehead of Taurus. ”

“ The capitals shine with gold, like high peaks which the golden-rayed sun strikes with its arrows.
“And all the capitals on high are crowned above in circled order by an embracing rim of beams (douratea antux) , which binds the columns together in one curve, though at the same time each column is separate from its fellow. And fixed upon the rim you might see trees, with clusters as of fire,—the glitter of silver boughs shining afar. Nor does each sapling wander at will, but it is restrained in a cone-like form of many edges, from a wide circle ever lessening to a point at the top. ”

“ But towards the murmuring south wind and the cold dry north, a wall, mighty in strength, rises to the under side of the rounded arch (antux) . Now this wall is made bright with eight windows, and rests below on great props of marble. For beneath it six columns, like the fresh green of the emerald, in union support untired the weight of wall. And these again are borne on strong columns fixed immovable on the ground, glittering jewels of Thessalian marble, with capitals above them like locks of golden hair. ”

“ The sacred light cheers all: even the sailor guiding his bark on the waves, leaving behind him the unfriendly billows of the raging Pontus, and winding a sinuous course amidst creeks and rocks, with heart fearful at the dangers of his nightly wanderings—perchance he has left the Ægean and guides his ship against adverse currents in the Hellespont, awaiting with taut forestay the onslaught of a storm from Africa—does not guide his laden vessel by the light of Cynosure, or the circling Bear, but by the divine light of the church itself. ”

“ The church consequently presents a most glorious spectacle, extraordinary to those who behold it, and altogether incredible to those who are told of it. In height it rises to the very heavens, and overtops the neighbouring buildings like a ship anchored among them, appearing above the rest of the city, while it adorns and forms a part of it. One of its beauties is that being a part of and growing out of the city, it rises so high that the whole city can be seen as from a watchtower. ”

“ Who could describe these gynaeceum galleries, or the numerous porticoes (stoai) and cloistered courts (peristuloi aulai) with which the church is surrounded? Who could tell of the beauty of the columns and marbles with which the church is adorned? One would think that one had come upon a meadow full of flowers in bloom! Who would not admire the purple tints of some, and the green of others, the glowing red and the glittering white, and those too, which nature, painter-like, has marked with the strongest contrasts of colour? ”

“ What then ought to be the fear and humility of the bishops, the priests, and the deacons in this holy service?
“How magnificent are the gold and silver chalices, garnished with precious stones and pearls! When the splendid chest, called Jerusalem, is brought out with the flabella, there rises amongst the people a great groaning and weeping.... But here is a wonderful miracle, which we saw in S. Sophia. Behind the altar of the larger sanctuary is a gold cross, higher than two men, set with precious stones and pearls. ”

“ Such is the ambo; for a long path starts from the last step of its eastern flight, and stretches out until it comes to the space by the twin silver doors, even striking with its lengthy plinth the fence wall of the sacred rites; and the path is warded on both sides by walls. Now for these fence walls they have not placed lofty slabs, but they are as high up as the navel of a man standing by them ”

“ A thousand others within the temple show their gleaming light, hanging aloft by chains of many windings. Some are placed in the aisles, others in the centre or to east and West, or on the crowning walls, shedding the brightness of flame. Thus the night seems to flout the light of day, and be itself as rosy as the dawn. And whoever gazes on the lighted trees, with their crown of circles, feels his heart warmed with joy ”

“ At S. Sergius, the expedient of planning columned exedras to fill out the angles of the square beneath a domed vault had proved its utility and beauty. For the influence of the cross type we need only turn to the plan, and observe that the width across the “transepts” is exactly the same as the length included by the eastern and western hemicycles.
The master builders not only designed the church, they came “and worked at every part,” and lived with their building until their death; they certainly graduated as workmen, and we hear nothing of their honours or position, only of their genius. ”

“ And as when one winds the gold twisted thread in and out over the many-coloured surface of a Tyrian robe, and adds a fitting pattern round the bottom edges, or in the fair centre of the robe, or about the sleeve-holes for the arms while the fresh green web of the cloak shines like a meadow in spring,—the glory of the golden warp adding beauty to beauty, and decking it as if with flowers; even so the cunning workman has cast on the fresh green stones of the sacred rock the glitter of golden rays, giving a brighter beauty to them. ”

“ When the workmen had continued the work up to the second catechumena, and the upper columns and arches were built, and they were roofing the adjacent parts, the emperor began to be anxious for want of funds. But as he was standing in the upper part of an arch, as they were about to begin the dome, at the hour of the Sabbath just before dinner, an eunuch appeared to him, clad in white, and said, ‘Why are you distressed for money? To-morrow bid some of your nobles to come, and they shall have as much gold as they wish.’ On the following day the eunuch came and showed himself to the emperor. ”

“ A conviction of the necessity for finding the root of architecture once again in sound common-sense building and pleasurable craftsmanship remains as the final result of our study of S. Sophia, that marvellous work, where, as has so well been said, there is no part where the principles of rational construction are not applied with “hardiesse” and “franchise” In estimating so highly the Byzantine method of building in its greatest example, we see that its forms and results directly depended on then present circumstances, and then ordinary materials. ”

“ The multiplication of small lights is the most brilliant system of illumination, for not only is there light everywhere but flame, and hence no shadows. Whoever sees the great church lighted for the solemn services of Ramazan, when, according to Fossati, “six thousand lamps are suspended at various heights,” may imagine the splendour of the lighted interior in Byzantine times. ”

“ Directness, an economy of labour relative to the results obtained, is perhaps the most essential characteristic of the art both in construction and decoration in the great period. This freedom and rationality mark it out from all other styles of building, or rather make it include all other styles, for this reaches the universal. M. Choisy rightly insists on the fact that the Byzantine builders endeavoured to suppress preparatory and auxiliary work, and to execute their vaults and domes without centring. ”

“ Such ornament as this surrounds the church.
The Capitals.—“And the lofty crest of every column, beneath the marble abacus (peze) , is covered with many a supple curve of waving acanthus—a wandering chain of barbed points all golden, full of grace. Thus the marble in bulging forms crowns the deep red columns, as wool the distaff; the stone glittering with a beauty that charms the heart.
The Floor.—“And gladly have the hills of Proconnesus bent their backs to necessity, and strewed the floor with marble. In parts too shimmers the polish of the Bosporus stone, with white streaks on black. ”

“ In a court in the front of the church, he saw “nine very large columns of white marble,” and he was told that before his time a palace had been here, where the patriarch met the canons in chapter. “And in the same place before the church stands a stone pillar of marvellous height, on the top of which is a horse of copper as large as four horses put together; on the horse was an armed knight with a great plume on his head like a peacock’s tail. The horse has chains of iron round its body secured to the column to prevent it from falling, or being moved by the wind. ”

“ Proconnesian marble seems to have been the common stone of Constantinople so that it is used for the columns and capitals of the cisterns. We believe that careful examination of the capitals at Ravenna, Parenzo, and other Byzantine centres will show that they are in the main of this material. As to design the capitals lying neglected about the city, together with those in situ in the churches and cisterns, furnish a perfect museum of the types with which others dispersed through the whole area of the empire agree in the minutest particulars of design and workmanship. ”

“ By an edict engraved on a stone erected in the Strategium, it was called the New Rome of Constantine. In the documents of the patriarchs of the Greek Church the city is still called New Rome.
The quarries of easily wrought marble of large crystalline structure and soft white colour found in such abundance in the island of Proconnesus, only a few miles away over the sea to which it has given its name of Marmara, then as now furnished a perfect building material; while the still worked quarries of Egypt and Thessaly provided imperial purple and green. ”

“ While the art of building in the East, particularly in Syria and Asia Minor, and possibly in Egypt, was still distinctly Roman, a ferment and change may be detected which cannot be matched in Rome itself. Both in construction and ornamentation there is much already at Palmyra and Baalbec that belongs to the new, and repudiates the rules of merely official art.
In Rome the dome never appears to have been finally adapted to a composite building by being directly applied to a square plan. The dome on pendentives, so far as we know, was invented and perfected entirely in the East. ”

“ Let us now proceed to describe the remaining parts of the church. The entire ceiling is covered with pure gold, which adds to its glory, though the reflections of the gold upon the marble surpass it in beauty. There are two aisles one above another on each side, which do not in any way lessen the size of the church, but add to its width. In length they reach quite to the ends of the building, but in height they fall short of it; these also have domed ceilings adorned with gold. Of these two porticoes one [ground floor] is set apart for male and the other [upper floor] for female worshippers ”

“ After more than a thousand years of working marble through one complete development, Greek builders, by considering afresh the prime necessities of material, and a rational system of craftsmanship, opened the great quarry of ideas in constructive art which is exhaustless. ”

“ The nave (naos) of the temple has a dome (tholos) over it spreading its weight on four arches, raised to such a height, that to those looking from below it is difficult to see the whole hemisphere. And those who are above, however bold they are, never dare to bend over and look on to the ground: and the arches are open from the base up to their crown. On the right and left however, opposite to one another, are ranged columns of Thessalian marble. These with other neighbouring columns carry upper chambers, which offer a place to lean forward for those who wish. ”

“ The emperor again ascends the tribune and sits down on the throne, but he stands during the creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the elevation of our Lord’s body. And after the elevation, if he is not prepared for the Communion he remains seated till the end of the service. But if he is prepared, the deacons again come and summon him. And with them he enters into the bema and, having been given a censer, he censes the Holy Table, looking first of all to the east, then north, west, and south, and having again censed towards the east, he censes the patriarch also. ”

“ In the time of Constantine, and in Rome, alongside of work which was entirely classic, the churches, with fewer ties to the past to limit development along truly rational lines, had developed a manner which was a more direct outcome of the necessities of building with a minimum of merely perfunctory “architectural” forms—those conventions for the thoughtless expenditure of the workers’ labour, which in still worse times make architecture a burden to them instead of a delight. ”