L’archetipo cupolato: dalle chiese di Costantinopoli alle moschee di Sinan

The essay, referring to the spaces of worship in the churches of Byzantium/ Constantinople and to the main mosques designed by the architect Sinan, in identifying the most obvious differences between Byzantine and Islamic, try to trace the development of the architectural idea dominant in the eastern area.Efforts will thus underline the strength of "archetype" represented by the centric plant with quadrangular perimeter and dominated by a central dome.This archetype, forever rooted and required by the Orthodox liturgy (which instead will reject almost everything the basilican plants so widespread in the West) will be confronted in a manner very interesting with the islamic attentions towards a unified space, with no perspectival centers or privileged points, immediately perceptible and from all usable in a equal way. The domed hall, with a meaning that fully transforms the original sense of the Byzantine liturgy, it will become a natural petrification of the religious idea of Islam, the most accurate answer to the needs of a so different faith.