Constantinople as an Architectural Center

Abstract

As Constantinople emerged from the Transitional Period, it continued to be a major center for architectural developments, although it stood as the capital of a changed empire. From a purely practical perspective, it was perhaps the only urban center with the scale, income, and patronage to maintain architectural workshops as a fixed part of the workforce. Constantinople also benefitted from architectural developments in its hinterland, notably the monastic centers in Bithynia. As the major entrepôt of the era, Constantinople and its architecture must be understood from an international perspective of import and export, its workshops adopting, adapting, developing, and disseminating architectural forms from across the empire.