Palaiologan Constantinople and a New Architectural Idiom

Abstract

Following the reconquest of Constantinople in 1261, the city experienced a brief cultural revival, marked by significant works of restoration and new construction to reconnect the city to its past glory. Older monastic establishments were expanded, often with large chapels for the privileged burials of the aristocracy. The new architectural style of the period is best represented by the Church of Christ in the Chora Monastery, the best preserved project of the period, characterized by small-scale relationships in its design, picturesque asymmetries, and the lack of a clear relationship between the exterior forms and the interior spaces.