The Basilica Transformed

A unique achievement in the history of architecture and the major monument of Byzantine architecture requires detailed analysis to understand its historical context, planning principles, structural systems, aesthetics, and symbolism. The Great Church was designed quickly—as some unresolved design features and structural flaws reveal—but it was intended to be unique in form and scale, meant to symbolize the dominion of the emperor Justinian, as his army reconquered lost territories in the East and West and in North Africa.