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04 · Classical & Gothic Revivals

Byzantine Revival

c. 1840–1930

Central domes on round-arched churches, red brick banded with white stone, bell towers, and mosaics, built after 1840.

Look for

Dome Round arch Belt course
Westminster Cathedral, London, England: an example of Byzantine Revival architecture
Westminster Cathedral, London, England. Photo: Frank Kovalchek, CC BY 2.0
Sacré-Cœur, Paris, Paris, France
Sacré-Cœur, Paris Paris, France · Tonchino, CC BY-SA 3.0
Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, St. Louis, Missouri
Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis St. Louis, Missouri · Colin.faulkingham at English Wikipedia, Public domain
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C.
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Washington, D.C. · AgnosticPreachersKid, CC BY-SA 3.0
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia Sofia, Bulgaria · Plamen Agov (user:MrPanyGoff), CC BY-SA 4.0

what it is

Byzantine Revival buildings, made from about 1840 to 1930, imitate the churches of Constantinople. They are built around a central dome, often on a Greek cross plan (four arms of equal length), with the dome carried on pendentives, curved triangles of masonry that join a square room to a round dome. Other features are round arches, red brick banded with white stone, and mosaics in place of carved stone. Most are churches.

Westminster Cathedral in London (John Francis Bentley, 1895-1903) is red brick with white stone bands and a bell tower. Paul Abadie's Sacré-Cœur in Paris (1875-1914) is faced in white travertine and has an oval central dome 83.33 meters high with four smaller domes. The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis (1907-1914) has a granite exterior and mosaics inside. Unlike Byzantine buildings of 330-1453, these were built long after the Byzantine Empire ended, mostly in Western Europe and the United States, and some add Romanesque Revival detail, as in St. Louis.

how to spot one

Dome A rounded roof shaped as half a sphere, often raised on a drum (a circular wall). Domes cover large central spaces on Roman, Byzantine, Islamic, Renaissance and Neoclassical buildings. Round arch An arch shaped as a half circle, often built from wedge-shaped blocks called voussoirs. It is used over doors, windows and between columns in Roman, Romanesque, Renaissance and Richardsonian Romanesque buildings. Belt course A flat horizontal band of stone or brick running across a facade between floors, also called a stringcourse. It often marks where the base of a building ends and the upper floors begin.

Also look for

Bell towerArcadeDeep-set window

history

Byzantine Revival began in Western Europe in the 1840s, imitating Byzantine churches of the 5th through 11th centuries, above all those of Constantinople. Theophil Hansen, an architect working in Vienna, built the Arsenal there (1852-1856) with Ludwig Förster and the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church (1856-1858). In Paris, Saint-Augustin was built in 1860-1871, and Paul Abadie's Sacré-Cœur was begun in 1875. The style peaked in the last quarter of the 19th century, when Alexander Pomerantsev began the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia (1882).

Westminster Cathedral in London was built in 1895-1903 to John Francis Bentley's design; he died in 1902, before it was finished. The Sofia cathedral was completed in 1912 and consecrated in 1924. The Russian Revolution of 1917 ended the style in Russia, though emigrant architects continued it in Yugoslavia and Harbin. In the United States, the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis was built in 1907-1914, and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington was begun in 1920 and completed in 2017.

where to find it

Cathedrals in major cities: Westminster Cathedral in London, Sacré-Cœur in Paris, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia, and the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis and the National Shrine in Washington.

easy to confuse with

Hagia Sophia, an example of Byzantine Byzantine A central dome floating over a square room, round arches, plain brick outside, gold mosaics inside. Trinity Church, an example of Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival Round arches revived in heavy rough-cut stone: squat columns, cave-like entrances, and deep-set windows. Saint Basil's Cathedral, an example of Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodox Onion domes in gold and candy colors clustered over white walls and steep tent-roofed towers. Church of the Savior on Blood, an example of Russian Revival Russian Revival Onion domes, steep tent-roofed towers, kokoshnik gables and patterned red brick or colored tile on churches and secular buildings.