Byzantine architecture

Within the religious architecture of Byzantine Sardinia, three main groups of buildings are distinguished.
The first includes three large churches with a domed cruciform plan, built between the 6th and 7th centuries: San Saturnino di Cagliari, Sant'Antioco in the homonymous center and San Giovanni di Sinis (Cabras).

All three churches were built in the funerary area and in peripheral sectors of the related Roman cities of Carales, Sulci and Tharros.
San Saturnino di Cagliari was designed with a free cross plan. The church was restored during the Judicial Age, so today it is difficult to reconstruct the appearance it had in Byzantine times. The generating core is the central cube obtained by means of four sturdy arches, on which the dome rests. Probably four barrel-vaulted arms divided into three naves had to start from the central cupolated cube, following the model of the Church of the Holy Apostles of Constantinople, rebuilt under Emperor Justinian around the middle of the 6th century.

The Basilica of Sant'Antioco also conformed to the same model. As in the San Saturnino of Cagliari, the connection between the central cube and the dome was obtained by means of trumpets. In the church of San Giovanni di Sinis, also derived from the same model, the connection is obtained instead by means of plumes, a solution that is certainly more suited to Constantinopolitan architecture.

The second group includes churches that were also built in the first centuries of the Byzantine presence on the island, but partially reusing the structures of Roman thermal facilities, pre-existing on the site. This is the case of the sanctuary of Our Lady of Bonacattu in Bonarcado, the church of Santa Maria di Mesumundu (Siligo), the church of Santa Filitica (Sorso).

The third group includes a series of small buildings, most of which have a cruciform plan. The cross was generally free, as in the case of Santa Maria Iscalas (Cossoine), San Salvatore di Iglesias, Santa Croce di Ittireddu, Sant'Elia di Tattinnu (Nuxis), San Teodoro di Congius (Simaxis). The oratory of Souls in Massama and of the Holy Spirit in Oristano deviate from this model.

A case in itself is represented by the domed church of San Giovanni Battista di Assemini, the only one with a Greek cross plan inscribed in a square. The problem is to ascertain if the arches that allow the passage from the arms of the cross to the side chambers are technically and formally consistent with their barrel vaults and with the central dome die, or if they were opened later. There are good arguments to support both the one and the other hypothesis, but the proposal of the cross implant engraved from the beginning seems more convincing. Even in this case, however, the chronology of the monument fluctuates between the 6th-7th century and the 9th-10th century, since the structure with an engraved domed cross has been attested since the 5th century but has experienced a moment of significant recovery in churches from the age of the Macedonian emperors.

Update

22/9/2023 - 10:50