Hagia Sophia
Emperor Justinian’s church in Constantinople was the largest in the world for a thousand years. The dome seems to float above a ring of windows. Later the building became a mosque, a museum and a mosque once more.
The light from the windows beneath the dome makes the roof appear to rest on light.
Hagia Sophia means “Holy Wisdom”. The church was built in Constantinople, present-day Istanbul, after an older church burned down during the Nika riots of 532. Emperor Justinian had the new building erected in just five years. It was consecrated in December 537. The architects were Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus, both versed in mathematics and mechanics. The construction required thousands of workers. Materials were brought from all over the empire, including coloured marble and porphyry columns.
The church combines a long basilica with a central dome. The dome has a diameter of just over thirty metres and rests on four great arches. The transition from the square base to the round dome is made with pendentives, curved triangular surfaces. Half-domes on two sides extend the space and make it enormous. Beneath the dome opens an almost unobstructed floor, without the rows of columns that divided older churches. Brick and mortar form the structure, and the mortar joints are unusually thick.
Around the base of the dome are forty windows set close together. The light makes the dome seem to float. The historian Procopius, a contemporary of Justinian, wrote that it looked like a dome suspended from heaven by a golden chain. The walls were clad in marble of many colours, and the vaults were covered with gold mosaic. The space is so vast that it makes the visitor feel small, which was surely the intention.
The first dome collapsed after an earthquake in 558. It was rebuilt, somewhat higher and steeper, and completed in 562. Later earthquakes have caused new damage and repairs. Buttresses have been added on the outside over the centuries to support the building. Byzantine imperial ceremonies were held here, and the emperors were crowned in the church.
During Iconoclasm in the 8th and 9th centuries religious images were destroyed throughout the empire. The mosaics with human figures that survive today are therefore later than the church itself. Among the best known is the Deësis mosaic in the gallery, in which Christ is flanked by Mary and John the Baptist. It is usually dated to the 13th century. Other mosaics show emperors and empresses bringing gifts to Christ or Mary.
When the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453, Sultan Mehmed II made the church a mosque. Minarets were built, and over time the mosaics were covered with plaster. Large round panels with Arabic calligraphy were put up in the 19th century. Under Atatürk the building became a museum and opened to visitors in 1935. In 2020 it became a mosque again, a decision that sparked international debate.
For almost a thousand years Hagia Sophia was the largest church in the world. It became a model for both Byzantine churches and Ottoman mosques, including the works of the architect Sinan. Since 1985 it has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Areas of Istanbul. It remains one of the most visited buildings in the world.