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E ver since the first excavation of the remains of the church of St. John the Theologian on the hill of Ayasoluk, the reconstruction of the vaulted, sixth-century phase of the monument has been a major challenge in the field of early Byzantine architecture. This is partly due to the historic significance of the building. According to the contemporary account of Procopius, the church, rebuilt and enlarged under the auspices of Justinian, constituted the Ephesian counterpart to the Constantinopolitan church of the Holy Apostles.1 It was later to become the heart of medieval Ephesos and one of the most important pilgrimage churches in Asia Minor.2 Besides its historical interest, the reconstruction of St. John’s has a great significance for the study of early Byzantine vaulting technology. Indeed, reconstruction offers the only opportunity to recapture the form of the enormous brick vaults of the church, which are now lost. These sophisticated vaults, which seem to have survived in an earthquake-prone area for more than eight centuries, constitute a remarkable feat of structural engineering.3 They must have been a highly innovative structure, erected at a time when most churches were timber-roofed.The task of accurate and reasoned reconstruction through the scrutiny of archaeological evidence is more demanding than it may initially appear, in spite of the systematic exploration of the monument since its discovery in 1921. Eight decades of excavation and survey have made the ground plan of the aisled cruciform church as well as the footprint of its atrium, baptistery and skeuophylakion mostly clear (Figure 1).4 Some parts have even become the object of full-scale physical reconstruction (Figure 2). In addition to this, Hans Hormann, Mustafa Buyukkolanci, and Andreas Thiel have shed light on the building phases that preceded Justinian’s vaulted church.5 Still, in spite …

The Vaults of St. John the Theologian at Ephesos