Despite relative obscurity in Western historiography Byzantine architecture has had a profound influence across the world.
Not limited to the confines of the Byzantine Empire itself, the architecture of this enigmatic civilization made a significant impression on its Islamic and European contemporaries. especially converts to Christian Orthodoxy like Kievan Rus and Bulgars took to the style, but the nearby Muslim powers also inherited Byzantine elements in the construction of their mosques.
After the fall of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire in 1453, Byzantine refugees took their knowledge to Europe where the Byzantine architectural style already had roots.
Long after the Byzantines themselves had faded into history new architectural styles emerged Between the 1840s and the 19th century architects were inspired to construct modern buildings in the Neo-Byzantine or Byzantine revival styles.
Byzantine is a historiographical term used to describe the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of late antiquity and the Middle Ages. The eastern half of the Empire gained greater prominence in the 4th century AD, when Emperor Constantine moved the capital to Byzantium and named it Constantinople.
The Byzantines referred to themselves as Rhomaioi (Romans) They were Greco-Roman people, although the Empire contained myriads of different people.
The lingua franca of the eastern Mediterranean had been Greek since the Hellenistic period but was replaced by Latin as the official language of the Empire in 629 AD. The capital was Constantinople though it fell briefly to the Crusaders in 1204 AD.
Three Byzantine successor kingdoms existed in Nicea, Trizibond, and Epirus until Constantinople was recaptured in 1261 by the forces of Michael VIII Palaiologos. The empire survived until the 15th century when Constantine XI Palaiologos died during a final stand against the Ottomans in 1453
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