LIGHTING AND SPATIAL STRUCTURE IN RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE: a comparative study of a Byzantine church and an early Ottoman mosque in the city of

Abstract

Since the first cultures, light has had a symbolic role directly related to the sacred, religious and cosmologic beliefs. In turn, this role is apparent in the religious buildings taking a leading part in the creation of worshipping and aesthetic forms of a religion. Yet light is an influential factor not only in the spiritual relation between the believers and the religion but also in the spatial relation between the believers and the building. Spatial structures construct the religious environment while light re-constructs the religious experience. This paper investigates and compares the relation between the spatial structure and the lighting in Early Ottoman mosques and Byzantine churches. A general study exploring the meaning and role of light in Muslim and Christian Orthodox religion is performed followed by a research on the Byzantine and Ottoman religious architecture. The city of Thessaloniki is chosen as a place where both cultures and religions have met and interacted; two examples, the Byzantine church of Holy Apostles and the Alaca Imaret mosque, are used in order to investigate the spatial structures and lighting in detail, define the relations and identify differences and similarities. Apart from the different religion in Ottoman and Byzantine culture there are great similarities that involve building types, materials and construction techniques. In many ways some of the Byzantine characteristics are considered to have evolved through Ottoman culture while Early Ottoman religious architecture reflects the balancing of traditional Orthodox themes with the Anatolian and Muslim tradition in the city of Thessaloniki. Yet after all the coexistence and the similar architectural features and techniques, there are still differences in the overall spatial structure and lit appearance of the space that arise from the different forms, essence and rituals of each religion.

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