A "flat-pack" Byzantine church raised from the Mediterranean Sea that is to be reassembled in the UK Photo: Ashmolean Museum/PA
Posted on 11/16/2015 1:50:15 PM PST by NYer
It is the ultimate in DIY: a flat-pack building found on the bottom of the sea 1,500 years after it sunk.
A Byzantine church is to be reassembled for the first time in its long history, after it was lost in a ship wreck around 550AD.
The church is to go on show at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford as part of a new exhibition of treasures found under the sea, as its director says he hopes it is easier to assemble than “an Ikea wardrobe”.
It is the most extensive building project of its kind, bringing the church to life as close to its original design as possible.
The original “flat-pack” church is known to date from the era of the Emperor Justinian, who ruled from around 482 – 565 AD and was a prolific builder in his efforts to regulate Christianity across his empire.
Under his rule, based at Constantinople, large stone-carrying ships laden with prefabricated marble church interiors were sent out from quarries around the Sea of Marmara to sites in Italy and North Africa.
Some of the ships are known to have failed to make to their destinations, thanks to poor loading, stormy weather and their heavy load.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
From his base at Constantinople, Justinian sent out stone-carrying ships – known as naves lapidariae – carrying marble church interiors to sites in Italy and north Africa to fortify and regulate Christianity across his empire. There they would be installed inside the shell of a building put together with local material. “You show your power by planting churches,†Dr Roberts said. “He sent out flat-pack, self-assembly churches – Ikea churches.â€
Byzantine 'flat-pack' church to be reconstructed in Oxford after spending 1,000 years on the seabed
H/t to SunkenCiv. Catholic ping!
Ping
Prior to Justinian's rule, these areas had fallen out of Roman control, but he regained them for Rome. Presumably, these churches were part of his effort to reestablish control.
Did Justinian get that ancient North African emperor Husseinus Obamas angry by letting in christians?
thank you for the post on this 1,500 year old ‘flat pack’ church interiors.
“It had pews???”
Pews are a decidedly modern and Western innovation. They would not have existed back then.
One of the place that had been lost to direct Imperial control was Rome itself, so it is a bit odd to say "he regained them for Rome," though "Roman control" is perfectly appropriate, since the Empire understood itself to be the Roman Empire right down to its fall to the Ottomans in 1453 -- particularly when he did not move the capital back or install a co-Emperor in the West.
Thanks for the ping. Very interesting.
Very interesting! I had not heard of this before.
Why were they so reticent and afraid to mention that this was a flat-pack church? The story only mentioned it in passing. Eight times.
American innovation if I am not mistaken, going back to the period before the American Revolution.
Thank-you and God Bless.
Thanks NYer for posting it, and thanks Swordmaker for the ping.
I went to a byzantine mass last weekend, they really didn’t need the pews, we were standing about 90% of the time. It wasnt your usual Catholicalisthenics.
Most Orthodox churches in the old country don’t have pews. In the US you will find a lot that do because they came with an already built church that was acquired. Also there was a period of several decades when a conscious effort was made by some Orthodox to try and “blend in” as much as possible by adopting western customs and practices. For the most part we have moved beyond that.
The normal posture for prayer and worship is standing. Kneeling is a penitential act in Orthodoxy and is not done very often in church. It’s actually prohibited on Sundays.
Prefab churches! Amazing. I had no idea this sort of thing was done in Justinian’s time.
Thanks for the ping.
Those mail-order houses were popular in MIchigan after the whole state (most of it anyway) had been lumbered off.
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