Aside from Hagia Sophia, the monuments of the Byzantine East are poorly understood today. This is in sharp contrast to the well-known architectural marvels of Western Europe?s Middle Ages. In this landmark survey, distinguished art historian Robert Ousterhout introduces readers to the rich and diverse architectural traditions of the medieval Eastern Mediterranean.The focus of the book is the Byzantine (or East Roman) Empire (324-1453 CE), with its capital in Constantinople, although the framework expands chronologically to include the foundations of Christian architecture in Late Antiquity and the legacy of Byzantine culture after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Geographically broad as well, this study includes architectural developments in areas of Italy, the Caucasus, the Near East, the Balkans, and Russia, as well as related developments in early Islamic architecture. Alternating chapters that address chronological or regionally-based developments with thematic studies that focus on the larger cultural concerns, the book presents the architectural developments in a way that makes them accessible, interesting, and intellectually stimulating. In doing so, it also explains why medieval architecture in the East followed such a different trajectory from that of the West.Lavishly illustrated with hundreds of color photographs, maps, and line drawings, Eastern Medieval Architecture will establish Byzantine traditions to be as significant and admirable as those more familiar examples in Western Europe, and serve as an invaluable resource for anyone interested in architectural history, Byzantium, and the Middle Ages.

Author's PrefaceIntroduction: Historical Architecture, East and WestPart One: Late Antiquity (fourth to Seventh Centuries)Chapter One: Rome, the Domus Ecclesiae, and the Church BasilicaChapter Two: A Tale of Two Cities: Constantinople and Jerusalem in the Time of ConstantineChapter Three: Ritual Settings I: Liturgy, Initiation, CommemorationChapter Four: Ritual Settings II: Pilgrimage, Relics, and Sacred SpaceChapter Five: Makers, Methods, and MaterialsChapter Six: Regional Developments, East and WestChapter Seven: Secular Architecture: Cities, Houses, and FortificationsChapter Eight: Innovative ArchitectureChapter Nine: The Basilica Transformed: Hagia Sophia in ConstantinopleChapter Ten: Justinian's Building Program and Sixth-Century DevelopmentsPart Two: The Transitional Period (seventh to ninth centuries)Chapter Eleven: The Transitional Period within ByzantiumChapter Twelve: Transformation at the Edges of EmpirePart Three: The Middle Byzantine Centuries (ninth to twelfth centuries)Chapter Thirteen: New Church Architecture and the Rise of MonasticismChapter Fourteen: Secular Architecture and the Fate of the CityChapter Fifteen: Constantinople as an Architectural CenterChapter Sixteen: Master Builders and Their CraftChapter Seventeen: Development of Regional Styles I: Middle Byzantine Greece and MacedoniaChapter Eighteen: Development of Regional Styles II: Middle Byzantine AnatoliaChapter Nineteen: Development of Regional Styles III: The CaucasusChapter Twenty: Contested Lands: Architecture at the Time of the CrusadesChapter Twenty-One: The Exotic West: Southern Italy, Venice, and SicilyChapter Twenty-Two: Exporting a Culture / Importing a Culture: Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' and SerbiaPart Four: The Late Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Centuries (thirteenth to fifteenth centuries)Chapter Twenty-Three: The Difficult Thirteenth CenturyChapter Twenty-Four: Palaiologan Constantinople and a New Architectural IdiomChapter Twenty-Five: Old and New: Greek Cities and LandscapesChapter Twenty-Six: Regional Diversity: Bulgaria, Serbia, and RomaniaChapter Twenty-Seven: Rival Powers: The Ottomans and RussiaEpilogue: An Enduring LegacyGlossary of TermsAbbreviationsBibliographyIndex