The Textbook of Architecture

The Cabinet of Models

The cross-in-square church

The middle Byzantine church: nine bays in a square, a dome on a drum over four columns, barrel-vaulted arms, lower corner bays and three apses.

The cross-in-square church Open in Models ↗

Illustrates: Byzantine · Russian

The rules it illustrates

The cross-in-square: nine bays. Divide a square naos into nine bays: dome the central one on a drum over four columns, barrel-vault the four arms of the cross, and cover the four corner bays lower; add three apses to the east and a narthex to the west.

Five domes in a quincunx. Crown the four corner bays of a cross-in-square with smaller domes on drums around the great central dome, making a five-domed quincunx.

Where it appears in the book

In the styles Byzantine.

In the chapters Domes, Byzantium and the Early Church.

The terms it shows

Cross-in-square