byzantine
Architecture derived from the Byzantine Empire, featuring domes flanked by lower semidomes, with floorplans based on a central square.
Byzantine architecture developed in 6th century Byzantium, and has been carried on in different forms ever since then, primarily in religious buildings of Islam, orthodox Christianity, and Judaism. It is characterized by prominent central domes, often with subsidiary domes or vaults at the sides and corners. Islamic examples are frequently flanked by detached minarets at the four corners.
The central dome is accompanied by lower domes or vaults that organize the surrounding spaces. The form is architectural rather than limited to one of the religious communities that has used it.
Neo-Byzantine architecture is a later historicist revival of this vocabulary. It can add features such as towers and striped ornament to the inherited domed composition.
byzantine Photos
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