Churches - Monasteries
Before
the
time
of
the
persecutions, as
well
as
in
the
intervals
between
them, Christians
living
in
imperial
cities
used
either
converted
private
homes
or
new purpose-built structures as
places of worship.
Once Christianity became the official state religion, churches acquired specific characteristics and
gradually became centres of social and economic activity, playing an important
role in the lives of cities and their inhabitants.
The integration of Christian churches into the town
plan was a gradual affair; the first were founded on properties belonging to
the emperor or granted by the state.
In the 5th
and 6th century, churches were erected
at
key sites in the town plan, occupying
areas close to or
inside economic centres of old and thus becoming local landmarks. Many public buildings
and abandoned pagan temples have survived until the present thanks to being
converted into places of Christian worship.
In the
middle and late Byzantine period churches were usually built on empty land or on major city streets, forming the nuclei around which
neighborhoods were organized. In subsequent times they even lent their names to
the surrounding neighborhoods.
Byzantines cities also had numerous monasteries.
Although the first were set up in the countryside, far from cities, from the 6th
century onwards monasteries were founded within the city walls. Integrated into
the urban structure, they rapidly became hives of intellectual activity with significant
economic power. Each
was run by the rule governing life within it; the
number
of
buildings
it
had
depended
on
size, wealth
and
the services offered to the community. Monasteries were usually isolated
from the outside world by a high wall. Most
of
the
buildings
were arranged around the main church, which was the hub of monastic life. Important
buildings included the refectory, the kitchen and
the monks’ cells.
Other areas key to everyday life were the storerooms, the
guest areas and the baths, while adjacent buildings were sometimes used as
hospitals for both monks and lay patients, workhouses, orphanages and schools.
Finally, many
monasteries had libraries of note, while some were
important centres for producing and copying manuscript books.
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