ABSTRACT
I will focus on transformations to the surface of buildings, their “skins.” Before turning to that material, however, it is important to remember that church surfaces are but one aspect that could be affected by restorations which could, in turn, alter the shape and experience of prayer and worship in ecclesiastical spaces. There are many kinds of changes that our “stage” (to continue the metaphor) for prayer in early Byzantine churches might endure. We might think of them in terms of what has been dubbed the “layers of longevity” of a building’s built components: permanent site, structure (the foundation and load-bearing elements), space plan (the interior layout of partition walls, doors, and built-in features such as altars, chancels, ambos, and masonry benches), the building’s surfaces, and its “stuff ” (mobile elements such as lamps and wooden benches that were the most easily and readily adapted to new needs and conditions).1
