“God has made me very proud because He has helped me to be worthy of realizing such a project: I have subdued you, O Solomon” – A statement attributed to Justinian during the inauguration of the Hagia Sophia in 537 AD.
The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey is one of the most monumental domed structures in the world. The exterior lines suggest the astonishment and clear success of this dome, with a diameter of 31m (100 feet), which can only be fully appreciated from within. The Hagia Sophia – “Holy Wisdom” – was constructed and decorated in just six years from 532 to 537. Its grandeur and structural skill demonstrate that the idea of a declining early medieval Christian architecture is incorrect.
Concept and Design
When Justinian tasked his team of architects with building the new Hagia Sophia, it was clear they recognized this as a new style of church construction in the early Christian world. Legend has it that an angel itself designed it for Justinian. The complexity of the structure certainly reflects confidence in an extraordinary architecture at a monumental scale, requiring precise calculations and a daring spirit in engineering. The edict sent to Anthemius and Isidore demanded the construction of a sacred space unlike any other church, to be dedicated to the regular celebration of Byzantine rituals as well as solemn national liturgies.
The liturgy included the Eucharist, where bread and wine were brought through the congregation to the altar in the East for consecration in the Holy Sacrament, along with biblical preaching and prayer. The pinnacle of the ceremony was performed by the Patriarch at the silver altar, with decorative objects in the sanctuary filled with silver, gold, and precious stones. Only clergy and the emperor, viewed as representatives of God on earth, were permitted to enter this Most Holy Sanctuary.
Floor Plan of the Church
The architects worked with such detail that the marble floor was divided into stripes (‘rivers’) to assist the clergy in performing the rituals. Although functionally, the architecture also remained faithful to showcasing light and enclosing space, especially beneath the main dome, soon after, in the theological commentaries of Byzantium, it was understood as a symbol of Heaven.
All the vaulted ceilings and walls above the faithful are adorned with mosaic materials. In the 6th century, this theme was limited to countless golden crosses and non-symbolic decorative objects; it was only from the 9th century onward that symbolic themes, such as the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child among archangels, appeared in the semi-dome area at the end of the church. C
hrist Jesus placed in the dome, and the portraits of emperors and important saints associated with the Hagia Sophia were gradually added with the patronage of the emperor. The church also gradually increased its income and displayed all Christian relics, including a piece of the True Cross, demonstrating that the church was not only for worship but also for sincere devotion and prayer.
Entering the church from a Roman-style atrium located in the west, there is an unusual second entrance located at the southwestern side of the church, next to the Patriarchal Palace, a supplementary structure in the church complex from the 6th century, near the separate Baptistery. The interior entrance has nine doors leading into the main area of the church, with four sloping paths at the corners of the church leading to the corridors in the North, West, and South.
Construction:
The Hagia Sophia is the most monumental church in the early Christian world, with its scale being fully felt in the dim light at dawn, during worship hours, and the flickering candlelight.
Procopius, writing to express admiration for Justinian shortly after its completion in 537, described the astonishment of visitors at how the dome seemed to float above?
The answer lies in the concealed structural techniques. Visitors only see the main dome with half-domes acting as support walls on the East and West, and sunlight streaming through the windows illuminating the entire church. They see rows of marble columns (marble colored from various quarries in the Mediterranean) and patterned marble cladding (often clad in a “backing” style with symmetrical veining enhancing the mystical quality of the stone material). The marble columns are intricately carved at the base, with decorative reliefs and spaces positioned between the upper surfaces of two meeting arches and the straight line connecting the dome’s apex (white marble sourced from Proconnesia quarries in the Sea of Marmara).
However, local limestone or green granite, bricks, mortar, lead, and iron anchors supporting the structural details beneath all these outer cladding were hardly found, nor were timber beams to distribute horizontal forces for the piers between the columns and the vaulted roof, which were essential to stabilizing internal pressures within the structure. The combination of marble column rows and vaulted brick roofing draws from the concrete architecture of the Roman Empire in Italy, but the choice of materials adhered to local building traditions from the Roman provinces of Asia Minor.
Key Facts:
- Main area of the church: 78x72m
- Diameter: 31m
- Height: 62m
- Materials: Stone, brick, mortar, iron, and wood for beams and anchors.
Later History:
The Hagia Sophia remains regarded as the largest church in the Byzantine Empire, as well as the principal monument of the Orthodox Christian faith. The basilica served as the headquarters of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the main place of worship for the Byzantine Empire until 1453, except for a period when it was a Latin cathedral from 1204 to 1261.
Significant later changes to Justinian’s church included reconstructing the dome, raised about 7m (23 feet) after it collapsed in 558 (the work of Isidore the Younger), giving the church a modern silhouette and salvaging the horizontal stress of the original dome below, with the architectural panels rebuilt in the North and South of the church’s main area after the earthquake in 869. An American architect, Trdat, rebuilt the Eastern main dome, the half-domes, and many parts of the dome after the earthquake in 989. Additionally, in 1317, the northern and eastern buttresses were reinforced, and the Eastern dome, half-domes, and many parts of the dome were reconstructed following the earthquake in 1346.
In 1453, the city of Constantinople fell to the Turkish forces of the Ottoman Empire, and many troops stormed the church while many were attending Mass inside. The Hagia Sophia was transformed into a mosque, soon after adding four minarets and other Islamic architectural details – the semi-dome area at the end of the church on the ground floor was converted into a mihrab facing Mecca, with a mimbar added on the right and the sultan’s seat on the left, along with large discs bearing Arabic inscriptions on the brick columns. The architecture of the church was modeled and developed by the architect Siman, resembling the Suleymaniye Mosque. The last major renovations were conducted by Swiss architects Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati in 1847-1849, a bold and impressive undertaking of reinforcement and redecoration. The structure became a museum in 1931.
