About the BRF Collection
The Byzantine Research Fund Archive (BRF) is a unique collection of architectural drawings, photographs and notebooks created from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century by a small team of British architects trained in the Arts & Crafts tradition whose studies of Byzantium shaped the Byzantine Revival in later years.
The collection contains over 1,500 drawings and 1,000 photographs, numerous notebooks and the corporate records associated with the Byzantine Research and Publication Fund, the original body created in 1907 to support this work. Although the Fund was associated with the BSA from the time it was founded, it was not until 1937 that the BSA formerly took over the property and operation of it. The BRF Archive contains records of Byzantine monuments in Greece, Turkey, Italy, the Near East, Egypt, and Cyprus. In some cases, the collection contains the only record of a monument before its destruction in modern times, the most important example being the church of Hagios Demetrios in Thessalonike which was almost completely destroyed in the Great Fire of 1917 shortly after being recorded by one of the BRF architects, Walter Sykes George. It also contains personal records of the following architects; Robert Weir Schultz, Sidney Howard Barnsley, Walter Sykes George, William Harvey, Harold Swainson, Peter Gus Corbett, and A.H.S (Peter) Megaw. The aspirations of the BRF Archive Project today are to make these materials accessible to a wide range of researchers.
Ground plan ((left part) - Longitudinal section (right part). Creator unknown
Church no 1: west façade. The photograph is annotated in pencil at the back.
View from the north. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View from the north. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
North gable (detail). Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
North gable (detail). Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
East façade (detail of the apse). Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View from the north-east. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
Capital. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
Capital. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View from the west. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View from the west. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View from the west. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
Entrance facing south. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
Central Tower from north. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
North door to great entrance. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
West angle, the restored Hellenistic walls. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
West angle, the restored Hellenistic walls (detail). Noteworty is the Cyclopeian part of the walls built by enormous blocks of grey stone. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
Keep wall from the court. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
The keep wall from south. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photogaph.
North end of the keep. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
The base of the tower at the north end of the keep (detail). Noteworthy are the different phases of the walling. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
The keep door. Noteworthy in the walling are the enormous stones (Cyclopeian walls). Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
The keep door from inside. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
North-west door to the keep. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
Stone socket in the keep. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View of the 'Palace' wall from the north end of the keep. Further annotation in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
Distant view of the churches from south-east. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View of the hill. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
North - east view of the churches showing the north entrance to the monastic complex. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View of the churches from the south showing the south entrance to the monastic complex. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View of the dome. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View of the dome. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View of the dome. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
Loggia and north façade. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View from the south. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View from south. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View from the east. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View from the east. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View from the east. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View from the east. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View of the east apse. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View of the east apse, south part (detail). Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View of the interior looking east. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View of the interior looking east. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View of the interior from the gallery looking east. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View of the interior looking east. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View of the interior looking north-west. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View of the interior looking north-west. Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.
View of the interior looking north-east Further annotaion in pencil survives at the back of the photograph.