Triconch Chapels in the Early Christian and Byzantyne Architectural Tradition

This paper collects a examination of the early Christian triconch chapels of Lycia, Karya and Antalya (Asia Minor, modern Turkey) with an analysis of their significance for the general development of ecclesiastical architecture between the fifth and sixth centuries in the Mediterranean area. Ancient and suggestive Christian archeological sites and ruins throughout the Turkish country show off the area’s importance from IV to VI century. These architectures adopt typologies in which Hellenistic survivals, Byzantine and Syriane influences coexist with technical and formal elements derived by the local tradition. The existence of cultural and religious common circuits in the Mediterranean area (Italy, Tunisie and Algerie) could explain the great diffusion of unitary formal models that is recorded.