The expert to tell me about the Roman, Gothic, Baroque, Byzantine this several kinds of architectural style ah!

Ancient Roman Architecture

Ancient Roman Architecture is an architectural style in which the ancient Romans followed the building techniques of the Etruscans on the Apennine Peninsula, inherited the architectural achievements of Ancient Greece, and made extensive innovations in the architectural form, technology and art. Ancient Roman architecture in the first to third century AD for the peak period, reaching the peak of the Western ancient architecture.

There are many types of ancient Roman buildings. There are the Roman Pantheon, Venus and the Roman Temple, as well as the Balbec Temple of the Sun and other religious buildings, but also palaces, theaters, gladiator arenas, baths, and plazas and basilicas (rectangular synagogues) and other public **** building. Residential buildings have an inner courtyard type residence, inner courtyard type and the combination of enclosing columns courtyard residence, there are four, five-story apartment type residence.

The form of secular architecture in ancient Rome was quite mature and well integrated with its function. For example, the Roman Empire throughout the large theater, the auditorium plane is semicircular, rising row by row, with a longitudinal aisle, supplemented by a horizontal aisle. The audience according to the ticket number from different entrances, stairs, to reach the seats in each section. The flow of people does not cross, gathering and dispersing convenient. The stage rises high, in front of the music pool, behind the make-up building, make-up building fa?ade is the background of the stage, the two ends of the projected forward, forming the prototype of the stage mouth, has been similar to the basic shape of modern large-scale performance buildings.

Ancient Rome multi-storey apartments commonly used standard units. Some apartments have stores on the ground floor, upstairs residents have balconies. This form is also similar to modern apartments. From the theater, gladiator, baths and apartments and other forms of view, the architectural design of this technical science has been quite developed. Ancient Roman architect Vitruvius wrote "ten books of architecture" is a summary of this science.

Ancient Roman architecture can meet a variety of complex functional requirements, mainly relying on a very high level of arch structure, to obtain a wide internal space. The barrel arch of the main hall of the palace of the Flavian dynasty on the Palatine Hill has a span of 29.3 meters. The diameter of the dome of the Pantheon is 43.3 meters. In the middle of the first century A.D., the cross arch was introduced, which covered square architectural spaces, concentrating the weight of the vaults on the piers at the corners, eliminating the need for continuous load-bearing walls, and making the space more open as a result.

The combination of several cross arches with cylindrical arches and vaults can cover complex interior spaces. The Royal Baths of the Roman Empire are representative of this combination.

Constantine Basilica on the east side of the central square of the ancient Roman city , the center with three cross arches, spanning 25.3 meters, 40 meters high, the left and right each have three spans of 23.5 meters of cylindrical arches to resist the horizontal thrust of the structure of the level of high. The huge auditoriums of the theater and the gladiatorial arena were also erected on a complex system of arches.

The popularization of arch structures was due to the use of volcanic ash concrete, which was strong, easy to construct, and inexpensive. Around the second century B.C., this concrete became a stand-alone building material, and by the first century B.C., it had almost completely replaced stone in the construction of arches, as well as in the building of walls. The surface of the concrete was often protected by a layer of square conical stones or triangular bricks, followed by a layer of plaster or a layer of marble slabs; there was also the practice of building a stone wall in front of the concrete wall as a facing.

Ancient Roman architecture of wood structure technology has been a considerable level, able to distinguish between the trusses of the tie rod and compression rod. The Roman city of Tula true Basilica, wooden trusses spanning 25 meters. The Great Roman Colosseum, built in the first century A.D., had a capacity of 50,000 spectators and took only five to six years to complete. It was built on a filled-in lake, but the foundations didn't even sink.

The Temple of the Sun at Baalbek, built in the middle of the second century A.D., was surrounded by 45 columns, each 19.6 meters high, with a base diameter of 2 meters, all of which were machined from a single block of granite. In the back wall of the temple 8 meters high, there are three blocks of each about 500 tons of large stone blocks, visible at that time the lifting capacity of the large.

Public **** baths are generally centrally heated. From the fire room out of the hot smoke and hot air flowing through the various halls under the floor, wall skin and vaulted ceiling in the ceramic pipe, radiating heat. According to Vitruvius' Ten Books of Architecture, the theaters had copper *** sounding urns buried under the seats to improve the sound quality. In addition, as late as the middle of the 1st century A.D., windows were already fitted with tens of centimeters square of highly transparent plate glass. In addition to the highest achievements of ancient Roman architecture concentrated in the capital city of Rome, there were buildings of all kinds of high level and large scale all over the empire.

Ancient Rome's high architectural achievements, large-scale buildings, the style of majestic and heavy, harmonious and unified composition, a variety of forms. The Romans opened up a new field of architectural art, rich in architectural art techniques.

The more important of these is: the new creation of the internal space under the cover of the arches, there is a solemn Pantheon of a single space, there are many levels, changes in the Royal Baths of the sequence of combined space, and Basilica's unidirectional depth of space. In some buildings the artistic treatment of internal space is more important than the external body shape.

The composition of ancient Greek columns was developed and made more adaptable. Most significant was the creation of combinations of columns with architraves, such as coupon columns and continuous coupons, which served as both structure and decoration. Most of the triumphal arches throughout the empire were composed of coupon columns. There were centralized buildings with various curved planes and arched structures. Hadrian's Leaving Palace, built on the outskirts of Rome in the first half of the 2nd century AD, is a mature example.

The second half of the fourth century A.D., the tide of ancient Roman architecture tends to decline. After the fifteenth century, through the Renaissance, Classicism. Classical revival and the early nineteenth century, France's "Empire style" advocate, ancient Roman architecture in Europe to become an example of learning again. This phenomenon continued until the twentieth century 20-30 years.

Books and drawings of Roman architecture began to reach China in the late Ming Dynasty. The Italian missionary Matteo Ricci asked from Italy for three volumes of the picture book "Public Opinion Map of the Ancient City of Rome", which was deposited in the Jesuit Library in Beijing. 1672, the Italian missionary Aleni brought two volumes of "Guang Yishu Shu" to China. These books contained drawings of Roman gladiatorial arenas, baths, temples, and Roman markets. In addition, in the early seventeenth century, the Jesuit library in Beijing had three volumes of Vitruvius's Ten Books of Architecture, but ancient Roman architecture did not have a real impact on Chinese architecture.

Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of the 10th to 12th centuries in popular Christian areas of Europe. Roman architecture originally meant for the Roman architectural style of architecture, also translated as Roman style architecture, Roman-style architecture, Roman-like architecture. Roman architectural style is mostly found in monasteries and churches.

Roman architecture inherited from the early Christian architecture, using some of the traditional practices of Roman architecture, such as semi-circular arches, cross arches, etc., and sometimes simplified classical columns and details of decoration. After a long period of evolution, gradually replaced the wooden roof of the early Christian churches with vaults, the Roman vaulting technology continued to test and develop, the use of handrails to balance the cross vertebrae force of the heavy vaults, and later gradually used the skeleton coupons instead of thick vaults. The plane is still the Latin cross. Out of the need to worship to the icons, relics, in the east end of a number of additional chapels, the plan form is becoming more complex.

The typical features of Roman architecture are: huge and thick walls, walls with a series of small coupons, door Zeu hole with concentric multi-layer small round coupons to reduce the sense of heaviness. One or two bell towers on the west side, and sometimes there are bell towers on the intersection of the Latin cross and the transepts. The center hall has a rhythmic alternating arrangement of large and small columns. The windows are narrow, creating a dark and mysterious atmosphere in the larger interior space. The plain nave contrasts with the ornate altar, and the large spatial changes between the nave and the side aisles break the sense of equilibrium of classical architecture.

With the development of Romanesque architecture, the nave became higher and higher. In order to reduce and balance the transverse vertebral force of the soaring nave on the foot of the arch, and make the vault to adapt to different sizes and forms of the plane, and later created the Gothic architecture. The contribution of Romanesque architecture as a transitional form lies not only in the combination of a heavy structure with the dynamics of vertical ascent, but also in its success in organizing the tall tower into a complete composition of a building for the first time in the history of architecture.

Famous examples of Romanesque architecture include: the main church complex in Pisa, Italy, and the main church in Worms, Germany.

Gothic:

Gothic Architecture

Gothic architecture is an architectural style that originated in France in the second half of the 11th century and became popular in Europe in the 13th to 15th centuries. It is mainly seen in Catholic churches, but also affects secular buildings. Gothic architecture with its superior technical and artistic achievements, in the history of architecture occupies an important position.

The structural system of the Gothic church consists of a skeleton coupon of stone and a flying buttress. Its basic unit is in a square or rectangular plane at the corners of the columns to make a double center of the skeleton pointed coupons, one on each of the four sides and diagonal, roof slate frame on the coupons, forming a vault. With this method, you can make coupons with the same vector height on different spans, with light weight vaults and clear intersecting lines, which reduces the thrust of the coupon feet and simplifies the construction.

Flying handrail by the side of the hall outside the pillar pier coupon, balancing the foot of the hall arch side thrust. In order to increase stability, often in the pillar pier spire. As a result of the use of pointed coupons, pointed arches and flying buttresses, the Gothic church's interior space is open, simple, unified. Decorative details such as flaps, niches, etc. are also used for the theme of pointed coupons, architectural style and structural techniques to form an organic whole.

Classic Gothic architecture in European countries

In the second half of the 11th century, Gothic architecture first emerged in France. At that time, some churches in France already appeared in the form of ribbed vaults and flying buttresses. It is generally believed that the first true Gothic church was St. Denis Church in the suburbs of Paris. This church four pointed coupon cleverly solved the structural problems of the ribbed vaults between the arches, there are large stained glass windows, for many churches in the future to follow.

French Gothic church plan, although the Latin cross, but the horizontal wings protrude very little. The west side is the main entrance, the east end of the ring nave inside the ring corridor, many small chapel into a radial arrangement. The interior of the church, especially the nave is high, with a large stained glass zeus. Its appearance is characterized by a number of large and small steeples and spires, the west side of the tall bell tower on some of the spires. Plane cross at the roof of a very high steeple, handrail and wall stacks also have exquisite spires, windows fine high, the whole church upward momentum is very strong, extremely rich in carvings.

The west elevation is the focus of the building, the typical composition is: a pair of tall bell towers on both sides, below the horizontal link by the horizontal coupon corridor, the three gates by the layers of receding pointed coupons composed of see-through door, coupon face full of statues. Above the main door there is a large round zoo, called the rose window, carved exquisite and gorgeous. The masterpiece of early French Gothic churches is Notre Dame de Paris.

Amiens Episcopal Church is a masterpiece of French Gothic architecture in its heyday, 137 meters long, 46 meters wide, the horizontal wings protruding little, the east end of the nave into a radiating arrangement of seven chapels. Hall 15 meters wide, vaulted ceiling up to 43 meters high, in the hall of the arch between the plane of the rectangle, each with a cross vault, and the side of the hall vault corresponds. The columns are no longer round and four thin columns are attached to a single column to form a bundle. The thin columns are connected to the upper ribs of the coupons in an imposing manner, enhancing the upward momentum. The interior of the church is covered with stained glass large Zeus, almost invisible walls. The exterior of the church is beautifully carved, magnificent. This church is a symbol of the maturity of Gothic architecture.

Famous churches in the heyday of France are also Reims Episcopal Church and Chartres Episcopal Church, which, together with Amiens Episcopal Church and Beauvais Episcopal Church, are known as the four major Gothic churches in France. The Bishop's Church of Strasbourg is also famous, with its 142-meter-high spire.

After the Hundred Years' War, few churches were built in France in the 14th century. By the time Gothic architecture was revived, it had already reached the period of the flambeaux, a style named after the latticework that resembles a flame. Architectural decoration tended to be "fluid" and complex. The columns were often without capitals, and many thin columns ran from the ground to the vaults, becoming ribbed frames. Decorative ribs appeared on the vaults, and the ribs became star-shaped or other complex forms. At that time, few large churches were built. This style is mostly found in additions or remodeled parts of cathedrals, as well as more minor new churches.

The French Gothic period was characterized by a large number of secular buildings, very different in structure and form from the Gothic churches. Because of the successive wars, the cities were highly fortified. Castles were mostly built on high ground, with thick stone walls, bunkers, and a formidable appearance. However, the walls limited the development of the city, which was noisy and crowded with poor living conditions. Multi-story residence of the citizens close to the narrow streets on both sides of the mountain wall facing the street. The second floor began to be raised to enlarge the space, and the first floor was usually a workshop or store. Most of the structures were wooden frames, which were often exposed to form beautiful patterns and were quite interesting. The rich man's residence, town halls, trade associations, etc. are mostly built of masonry, using many of the decorative techniques of the Gothic church.

British Gothic architecture appeared a little later than France, popular in the 12th to 16th century. Instead of standing in crowded urban centers and striving to be tall and control the city as French churches did, English churches tended to be located in open country settings as part of complex abbey complexes that were relatively low and stretched out with the abbey along the Water Thousand. They do not emphasize structural techniques as much as French churches, but are more freely and diversely decorated. English churches are generally long in duration, with constant alterations and additions in the meantime, and it is difficult to find an overall unity of style.

The British Salisbury Bishop's Church and the French Amiens Bishop's Church were built in close proximity to each other, the nave is shorter and deeper, with a side hall on each side, with more protruding transverse wings and a shorter rear transverse wing to accommodate more clergy, which is a common layout technique in England. The front of the church is also on the west side. The east end tends to end in a square nave and rarely uses a ring nave. Salisbury Church has a flying buttress, but it is not significant.

English churches tend to have high spires at the crossroads of the plan, which become the center of the composition, with the bell tower on the west side relegated to a secondary position. The central spire of Salisbury Church is about 123 meters high, the tallest of any English church. The exterior of this church has an English character, but the interior remains French with simple decoration. The interiors of later churches have a stronger English style. The west window of York Minster is intricately windowed, with the window panes consisting of many curves in a lively pattern. The vaults of this period are richly ribbed, and the ribs of Exeter church are very powerful like the spreading branches of a large tree, and also employ bunching columns made up of many columns.

The east end of Gloucester and the west of Canterbury churches have very large windows, divided by a number of straight lattices, and the tops of the windows are mostly flattened four-centered coupons. The slender ribs are extended and coiled, and are extremely ornate. The vaults of King's Chapel, Cambridge, resemble many open fans, and are called fan arches. The vault of Henry VII's Chapel in Westminster Abbey has a number of drooping funnel-shaped ornaments, which are extremely elaborate. By this time the ribs had lost their structural role, and became the object of great skill on the part of the English craftsmen. England a large number of country chapels, very simple and friendly, often a church and a tower, the use of a variety of exquisite wooden roof frame, very characteristic.

The secular architecture of the Gothic period in England was highly accomplished. In the early days of the popularity of Gothic architecture, the feudal lord's castle has a strong defense, the walls are very thick, there are many towers and towers, and high nuclear fortresses within the wall. 15 centuries later, the king's power is further consolidated, the castle's facade opened the windows, and more consideration of the comfort of living. British residents of half-timbered homes with wooden posts and wooden transom as a frame, plus a decorative pattern, dark wood sorghum columns and white walls, the appearance of lively.

One of the earliest Gothic churches in Germany, the Cologne Cathedral, built in 1248, was designed by the French who had built the Amiens Cathedral, and has the style of the Gothic churches of the height of the French period, with its altar and sanctuary similar to those of the Amiens Cathedral. Its nave interior is 46 meters high, second only to the main church of Beauvais in France. The twin towers on the west side are 152 meters high and extremely spectacular.

German church formed early in its own form and features, its narthex and side halls of the same height, neither high side windows, nor fly-rail wall, rely entirely on the side of the narthex facade skinny high windows for light. The vaulted ceiling is topped by an overall steeply pitched roof, and the interior is a multi-columned hall. St. Elizabeth's Church in Marburg, with its two tall towers on the west side and a more plain appearance, is representative of this type of church.

There is another type of Gothic church in Germany which has only a very high bell tower on the front of the church. A famous example is the main church of Ulm. Its bell tower is 161 meters high and controls the entire architectural composition, which can be called a spectacle in medieval church architecture. Brick churches were popular in northern Europe, and there are a number of brick Gothic churches in northern Germany.

After the 15th century, German stonework skills reached their peak. The stone window panes were carved with a pure knife skill and were exquisite and gorgeous. Sometimes two layers of different patterns of stone carving window overlap together, exquisite. Building interior decorative vignettes, there is no shortage of exquisite masterpieces.

German Gothic architecture period of secular buildings are mostly built with masonry. Double-slope roof is very steep, inside the attic, even multi-storey attic, the roof and the mountain wall with a layer of windows, the wall is often picked out light wooden windows, balconies or niches, the appearance is very rich in character.

Italy's Gothic architecture in the 12th century from abroad, mainly in the northern region. Italy did not really accept the structural system and modeling principles of Gothic architecture, but used it as a decorative style, so it is very difficult to find "pure" Gothic churches here.

Italian churches do not emphasize height and verticality, and there are no high bell towers on the front, but rather a screen-like composition of mountain walls. The roofs are more gentle, the windows are small, often pointed coupons and semi-circular coupons and use, flying buttresses are extremely rare, while the carvings and decorations have a clear Roman classical style.

Siena cathedral used ribbed coupons, but only in the vault is slightly pointed, the other is still semicircular. The Bishop's Church of Orviato, on the other hand, still has a wooden roof with a wooden roof frame. The fronts of these two churches are similar, the general composition being a development of the screened buttresses, high in the center and low on the sides, with three spire shapes. The exterior, although decorated with many small Gothic spires and wall duns, is still inherent in the Italian churches with its large round windows and continuous coupon galleries on the flat wall surfaces.

The most famous Gothic church in Italy is the Duomo di Milano, one of the largest medieval churches in Europe, which was begun in the 1480s and not finalized until the early 19th century. The interior of the church is separated by four rows of giant columns and is 49 meters wide. The nave is about 45 meters high, and at the intersection of the cross-wing and the nave, it rises to more than 65 meters, above an octagonal light pavilion. The nave rises very little above the side halls, and the side-height windows are small. The interior is dark and the exterior of the building is made of brilliant white marble. The high windows, the upright buttresses and the 135 spires all show an upward movement, and the statues on the top of the towers look as if they are about to ascend. The west facade, with its Italian herringbone walls, is also decorated with many Gothic spires. But its doors and windows already bear the style of the late Renaissance.

Additionally in this period, the secular architecture of Italian cities is highly accomplished, especially in many rich cities **** and the country, built many famous municipal buildings and residences. City hall is generally located in the center of the city square, rough stone walls, serious and heavy; more with tall and thin bell tower, rich architectural composition, become the symbol of the square. The city is generally built with many high towers, the overall silhouette is very beautiful.

There are many masterpieces of secular architecture in Venice. The Doge's Palace in St. Mark's Square is recognized as one of the most beautiful works of medieval secular architecture. The fa?ade is made of continuous Gothic pointed coupons and flame patterned coupon corridors with chic composition and bright colors. Venice also has many mansions with Gothic colonnades, which stand elegantly by the water.

Baroque:

Baroque Architecture

Baroque architecture is an architectural and decorative style developed on the basis of Italian Renaissance architecture in the 17th and 18th centuries. Characterized by its free shape, the pursuit of dynamic, preferring rich decorations and carvings, strong colors, commonly used interspersed curved surfaces and oval space.

The original meaning of the word Baroque is strange and eccentric, and the classicists used it to refer to this architectural style, which was considered to be deviant. This style played an important role in opposing the rigidity of the classical form, the pursuit of free-spirited style and the expression of secular interest, etc., on the city square, garden art to literature and art departments have had an impact, once widely popular in Europe.

The Italian Renaissance late famous architect and architectural theorist Vignola designed the Jesuit Church in Rome is a masterpiece of the transition from Mannerism to Baroque style, some people call it the first Baroque building.

Mannerism is a style of art in Europe in the late 16th century. Its main feature is the pursuit of grotesque and unusual effects, such as deformation and incongruity of the way to express the space, to exaggerate the slender proportions of the figures. In the history of architecture, it is used to refer to the tendency to reflect the pre-Baroque style in the works of certain Italian architects during the period from 1530 to 1600.

Rome Jesuit church plan is rectangular, the end of the protruding a shrine, from the Gothic church customary Latin cross evolved, the narthex wide, vaulted ceiling full of statues and decorations. Two rows of small prayer rooms replace the original side aisles on either side. A vaulted ceiling rises from the center of the cross. The altar of the church is richly and freely decorated, and the mountain flowers on it break through the classical French style for iconography and decorative light. Church fa?ade borrowed from the early Renaissance architect Alberdi designed the treatment of the Florence Santa Maria Chapel. Above the main entrance, the layered eaves and flowers are made into overlapping arcs and triangles, and leaning columns and flat pilasters are used on both sides of the main entrance. Two pairs of large scrolls were made on both sides of the upper fa?ade. These treatments are unique, and later widely imitated.

Baroque style broke the blind worship of ancient Roman architectural theorist Vitruvius, but also broke the late Renaissance classicists formulated a variety of rules and regulations, reflecting the secular idea of yearning for freedom. On the other hand, the Baroque style of the church is rich and magnificent, and can cause a fairly strong mystical atmosphere, but also in line with the requirements of the Catholic Church to show off their wealth and the pursuit of mystery. Therefore, baroque architecture from the beginning of Rome, soon spread throughout Europe, and even as far as the Americas. Some Baroque buildings are overly ambitious, even to the point of cumbersome piling.

From the 17th century and 30s, the Italian church wealth is increasing, each parish has built their own baroque style church. Due to the small scale, it was not suitable to adopt the Latin cross-shaped plan, so it was mostly changed to a single space nave such as round, oval, plum blossom, round petal cross, etc., and curved surfaces were heavily used in the modeling.

Typical examples are St. Carlo's Church in Rome, designed by Borromini. Its nave plan is nearly olive-shaped, surrounded by a number of small irregular prayer rooms; in addition there are living courtyard. Nave plan and ceiling decorations emphasize the curve of the dynamic, fa?ade mountain flower disconnection, the eaves of the horizontal curved, wall concave and convex degree is very large, richly decorated, there is a strong effect of light and shadow. Despite the pure design techniques, but also inevitably have a sense of artifice 9. 17th century, after the mid-17th century, baroque churches are popular in Italy, there is no lack of novel and original works, but there are also poor techniques, stacked excessive building.

The papal authorities, in order to show off the wealth of the Papal States to the pilgrims, built wide avenues and grand squares in Rome, which opened up new avenues for the freewheeling style of the Baroque.

17th century Roman architect Fontana built Rome Polo Square, is the convergence of three radial arteries, the center of an obelisk, surrounded by statues, the arrangement of green belts. Between the radial arteries there are two symmetrical churches of the same style. This square is open and unrestrained, many countries in Europe to follow suit. France in front of the Palace of Versailles, Russia in front of the Petersburg Admiralty building were built radial square. Outstanding Baroque architects and master sculptors Bernini designed the square in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, surrounded by Roman Taskean colonnade, the entire layout of the bold, dynamic, light and shadow effect is strong.

Baroque architectural style is also popular in some countries in Central Europe, especially in Germany and Austria. 17th century, the second half of Germany, many architects studied in Italy returned to the Italian Baroque architectural style with the German national architectural style combined. To the first half of the 18th century, the German Baroque architectural art has become a strange flower in the history of European architecture.

German baroque church building appearance simple and elegant, soft modeling and decoration is not much, the outer walls of the dry, with the natural environment and coordination. Church interior decoration is very gorgeous, resulting in a strong contrast between inside and outside. Famous examples are the fourteen saints pilgrimage church on the outskirts of Bamberg, the monastery church in Rohr.

Fourteen Saints Pilgrimage Church is a very novel layout, the main hall and shrine made of three consecutive oval, arched ceilings also echo this, the church interior up and down covered with stucco molded into a variety of plant shapes decorative motifs, brilliant. The exterior of the church is relatively plain, with a pair of towers on the front, decorated with gentle curves and a sense of intimacy.

Rohr Abbey Church is also simple in appearance, the interior decoration is exquisite, especially the upper ceiling of the shrine, covered with white marble carved flying angels, the shrine in the center of the Virgin Mary and two angels composed of a group of carvings; below the shrine is a group of saints with different expressions of the statue.

Austria's baroque architectural style is mainly imported from Germany. the first half of the 18th century, many famous buildings in Austria are designed by German architects. Such as Vienna's Schuberbrunn Palace, the exterior is a serious form of classical architecture, the internal hall has an Italian baroque style, all the columns in the hall are carved into human statues, the top of the columns and vaults are full of relief decorations, is a product of the combination of the baroque style and the classicist style.

Emerged in the mid-17th century, its style free-spirited, complex modeling, rich in change, just some of the architectural decorations piled up too much. Spain's Santiago Cathedral for the typical examples of this period of architecture.

"Byzantium" was originally a castle in ancient Greece, 395 AD, the prominent Roman Empire split into two countries, West Rome's capital is still in Rome, and East Rome will move the capital to Byzantium, the country is also known as the Byzantine Empire along with its migration. Byzantine architecture, is born in this period of the Byzantine Empire, a kind of architectural culture.

From the perspective of historical development, Byzantine architecture was developed on the basis of the inheritance of ancient Roman architectural culture, at the same time, due to geographic relations, it also draws on Persia, the two river basin, Syria and other Eastern cultures, forming its own architectural style, and later on the Russian church architecture, Islamic mosque architecture have had a positive impact.

The characteristics of Byzantine architecture, there are four main aspects: the first is the roof shape, the common use of "vaulted roof". The second feature is the overall shape of the center is prominent. In general, Byzantine architecture, the center of the architectural composition, often very prominent, the volume of both high and large dome, often become the center of the composition of the whole building, around this centerpiece, often set up around some of the small parts of the coordination with it in an orderly manner. The third feature is that it created the dome supported on independent square columns of the structural method and the corresponding centralized architectural form. Its typical practice is to issue coupons on the four sides of the square plane, and build a dome with a diagonal diameter between the four coupons, as if a complete dome was cut by the coupons on the four sides, and its weight was completely borne by the four coupons, thus making the internal space extremely free. The fourth feature is the use of color, paying attention to both change and unity, so that the building's internal space and external facade appear brilliant.

Holy Sophia Cathedral

The whole plan of this church is a huge rectangle. In terms of external shape, it is a typical centralized building centered on a domed nave. From the structural point of view, it has both complex and well-organized structural stress system. From the internal space, this church not only through a circle of 40 small window holes arranged in the lower part of the large round dome, the natural light into the church, so that the whole space becomes fluttering, light and magical, increasing the religious atmosphere, but also with the help of the building's colorful language, to further construct the artistic atmosphere. The hall's door and window glass is colored, column piers and the inner wall surface with white, green, black, red and other colorful marble spelling, columns with green, column head with white, certain places inlaid with gold, round dome inside are pasted with blue and gold glass mosaic. These colorful colors reflect each other, both colorful, rich in change, but also in harmony, unified in a general mood: sacred, noble, rich. Thus, the Byzantine architecture makes full use of the color language of the building to construct the charm of the artistic mood. This building has certainly become the Middle Ages, and even the history of human architecture, dazzling, shining masterpiece.