Talk by J. B. Ward Perkins
Director of the British School at Rome
The question of the origin of Byzantine architecture has been the subject of much controversy between scholars ever since, in 1901, the Viennese art historian Strzygowski published his work Orient oder Rom.
Mr. Ward Perkins believes that new light can be shed on this question by exatnining the materials and methods of construction used in Byzantine buildings. In 1953 and 1954 he took part, together with Professor Talbot Rice, in the Walker Trust excavations on the site of the Great Palace of Constantinople.