o speak, or left to wither and decay. As we
look upon them we have need of imagination to see in faded colours the
graceful forms and brilliant hues which charmed and delighted the eyes
of men in other days.

In the preparation of this work I have availed myself of the aid
afforded by previous students in the same field of research, and I have
gratefully acknowledged my debt to them whenever there has been occasion
to do so. At the same time this is a fresh study of the subject, and has
been made with the hope of confirming what is true, correcting mistakes,
and gathering additional information. Attention has been given to both
the history and the architecture of these buildings. The materials for
the former are, unfortunately, all too scanty. No continuous records of
any of these churches exist. A few incidents scattered over wide tracts
of time constitute all that can be known. Still, disconnected incidents
though they be, they give us glimpses of the characteristic thoughts
and feelings of a large mass of our humanity during a long period of
history.

The student of the architecture of these churches likewise labours under
serious disadvantages. Turkish colour-wash frequently conceals what is
necessary for a complete survey; while access to the higher parts of a
building by means of scaffolding or ladders is often impossible under
present circumstances. Hence the architect cannot always speak
positively, and must leave many an interesting point in suspense.

Care has been taken to distinguish the original parts of a building from
alterations made in Byzantine days or since the Turkish conquest; while,
by the prominence given to the variety of type which the churches
present, the life and movement observable in Byzantine ecclesiastical
art has been made clear, and the common idea that it was a stereotyped
art has been proved to be without foundation.

Numerous references to the church of S. Sophia occur in the course of
this volume, but the reader will not find that great monument of
Byzantine architectural genius dealt with in the studies here offered.
The obstacles in the way of a proper treatment of that subject proved
insuperable, while the writings of Salzenberg, Lethaby, and Swainson,
and especially the splendid and exhaustive monograph of my friend Mr. E.
M. Antoniadi, seemed to make any attempt of mine in the same direction
superfluous if not presumptuous. The omission will, however, secure one
advantage: