Form and Construction in Byzantine Brick Cross Vaults

Abstract This study aims to determine the characteristics of the Byzantine brick cross vault by slices construction system by analysing preserved cases. Results are compared with existing literature (Choisy 1876 and 1883) and with the rest of centres of the technique in the Mediterranean basin. An innovative graphic methodology has allowed for the acquisition of data on form, brick pattern and building methods from a three-dimensional digital replica of the case studies, revealing that construction control procedures were not as precise as Choisy proposed, although his hypotheses have been fundamentally confirmed. For the first time, technical similarities are established with the centres of the Iberian Peninsula: in Toledo area (12th–16th cent.) the system could be Byzantine, although the vault form is different, and in the southwestern part (15th–19th cent.) the opposite is true, the general form is similar to Byzantine vaults, but the construction system would be different.