Development of Regional Styles I

Certain features in Byzantine church design are universal, such as the centralized, domed plan and the three-part sanctuary. While plans may have been imported from major centers, construction was local: under normal circumstances, masons did not travel. Thus, regional workshops developed distinctive techniques and styles. The architecture of the so-called Helladic School of the south (primarily Athens and the Peloponnese) contrasts with northern developments in the area of Thessalonike and Macedonia. At the same time, traveling masons from Constantinople seem to have been at work at several sites, such as Ferai, Veljusa, and Nea Mone.