The Two Geometric Concepts Applied on The Architectural Design of Medieval Churches in The Balkans

Abstract

This paper presents a combined application of the two geometric concepts to analyze architectural layouts of selected medieval churches in the Balkans. One concept is a geometric construction, known as Štambuk’s canon, which is here supplemented by triangulation. Its application has been already attested to a wide range of late antique and medieval churches in the Balkans. The second concept is the Octagon model, which is based on the recovered geometric drawings incised in stone found at the Octagon monument, originally part of the late antique Galerius Palace in Thessaloniki. Both these concepts relay on geometric shapes and specific type of grid, derived from the combination of basic shapes of circles withtrianglesand squares.In the first approach, the two types of triangular sequences, i.e. geometric patterns,are appliedon the twelve layouts of the churches. The analysis shows that these patterns correspond with the four types of layouts, previously grouped by Nenadović. In the second approach, based on computer modeling and the fitting the four churches’ layouts into the complex Octagon model, the maximal deviation is +/- 3%. Although these are two diverse starting settings for geometric analysis, this study indicates a strong correlation between them. Namely several elements of Štambuk’s construction and Octagon model are found in common, such as center of the apse, edge of Štambuk’sholy triangle, etc. This investigation additionally points tothe possibility that the monuments from a wider Balkans region could have been designed by usingthe similar basic geometric principles.