Architectural plastic in Byzantine Period at İzmir Archeological Museum

In this study, the stone monuments belonging to the Byzantine era, currently displayed in Izmir Archaeology Museum have been examined. Within the scope of this study, a total of 125 stone monuments have been assessed. Various researchers have published some of these works in earlier stages. However, an extensive study that encompasses the whole of the Byzantine plastics has not yet been accomplished. Regarding this, our Graduate Thesis Study will be the first. The works studied within the museum comprises of examples from architectural sculpture with static and liturgical function such as a stone column base, a column capital, architraves, plates, double columns, ciborium fragments, a templon column capital, a templon column, a templon monolithic column with capital, staircase blocks of ambo, an ambo balcony and its staircase screens, a door lintel and a frieze. These works of art were evaluated according to their decorative patterns, style properties, decorative techniques, taking into account their material properties & composition and were documented in detail. Amongst the different types of architectural plastics available in the museum, the grounds of discovery and/or whereabouts from which the plastics have been delivered are known for only a few. On the monuments of which, one is a stone and remaining are marble of different colours and quality, it can be seen that many decorative designs including floral and geometric patterns, animal figures, crucifixes and many other symbols have been created using low and high embossing and scraping techniques.The architectural plastic samples, examined during this graduate thesis study, have been compared and historically dated according to many similar examples located in museums around Anatolia, Istanbul, Greece and Worldwide, which in order resulted in determining the importance and status of these works within the Byzantine Art.