The emperor Constantine moved the capitol of the Roman empire to Constantinople in 330 AD. the region surrounding Constantinople was known as Byzantium and became the centre of now catholic faith. While this eastern Roman empire flourished the western empire in Rome fell into decay and was overrun by Barbarians from the north. In the east Hellenism (the remains of the Greek civilization) continued on in the coastal cities of Turkey and Asia. Inland catholic monasteries were established in Greece, Turkey and Egypt. Catholic art reached its period of wildest influence in the sixth century AD, when Catholicism and the Byzantine influence was strong around the shores of the Mediterranean sea. Russia adopted Catholicism in the 8th century ad and the Byzantine tradition continued unbroken in Russia until the 9th century.
In the 7th and 8th centuries came the revolt of the iconoclasts (icon = image) in which the church prohibited the makings of images for fear of idolatry among the people. Existing wall paintings and mosaics were all white washed over and Byzantine art became only decoration using plant and animal forms. From the 9th to 11th centuries Byzantine art was reborn in all its splendor and many churches were built in Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, Sicily. The influence of Islam was very strong and sprang from the same source as Catholicism.
Architecture
The Byzantine Church was based on the central or circular plan of eastern origin. Enormously solid brick archways or tunnel vaults arranged to support a central dome and other smaller vaults with domes over the intersections were built. The Byzantine church received little or no outside decoration, all decoration was reserved for the inside. The outstanding example of a Byzantine church is the Santa Sophia in Istanbul.
Painting and Sculpture
Painting and Sculpture of the western world in the 7th and 8th centuries showed a complete regression from Greco-Roman naturalism. The human figure, tending to be reduced to a decorative or ornamental for sometime disappeared entirely and plant forms took its place (iconoclasm).
Church interiors were decorated with painted frescoes but the great contribution of the Byzantine artists to the development of art was the glass mosaics. The dim interior of the church sparkled with an unearthly light as the flickering altar candles were reflected from the thousands of pieces of coloured glass making up the pictures on walls and ceiling. The solemn unnatural figures of Jesus and the disciples seem to float mysteriously on the inside walls and dome unattached to any realistic landscape.
Only decorative surface carving was permitted. Sculpture in the round was prohibited as Catholicism replaced the worship of many gods of the Greco-Roman world.