Rival Powers

Following the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Moscow ascended as the center of Orthodox Christianity, styling itself the “Third Rome.” While influenced by Italian architects and indigenous developments, later Russian architecture reflects the picturesque complexities of the Late Byzantine style. The Ottomans settled in Byzantine territory and relied on Byzantine masons to construct their earliest mosques. With the conquest, they began a competitive discourse with the Byzantine past, turning to the monumentality of Hagia Sophia as their chief source of inspiration. While both the Russians and the Ottomans looked to the Byzantines, their architectures developed in very different ways. Nevertheless, both might be regarded as Byzantium’s legitimate successors.