The Cathedral of St. Sophia, or as it is known today – Hagia Sophia, in Istanbul, Turkey, was built in honor of Emperor Justinian. Without doubt, the cathedral is one of the most prominent masterpieces of Byzantine architecture and a symbol of the "Golden Age" of the Byzantine Empire.
The main cathedral of the Empire took the place of a basilica that existed on the same exact place since the rule of Emperor Constantine I. It was built by architects Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus. This cathedral is without exaggeration a miracle of engineering though.
From a plane perspective Hagia Sophia in Istanbul looks like a cross, 70x50m. A diamond shaped basilica with a four edged middle crossing, topped by a big dome. The main difficulty that had to be faced during the construction process was the grand dimensions of the building ordered by the emperor. In order to erect such a building of the specified length and width and cover it with a brick layered dome (with a diameter of 32 meters) would have been a revolutionary undertaking during those times. In order to compensate for the enormous pressure of the dome the architects could have increased the thickness of the walls, however, the cathedral wasn't supposed to look massive, besides thick walls make it difficult to cut through for windows.
The gigantic dome structure of Hagia Sophia became a true masterpiece of architectural though of its time. The primary strain is held by multiple arcades and arches, not very massive, but smartly interwoven. In the east-west axis the dome is compensated in the following way – the central arch has two semi-domes attached from each side, and these two semi-domes have even smaller domes attached to them. The weight of the largest dome is diffused among a set of smaller arches, until it is finally held up by the special column pylons around the perimeter. The windows at the base of the dome are placed very close to one another and create a visual illusion of a floating cathedral top. The visitors of the cathedral may get the feeling that the roof of the building is not supported at all and is floating in the air. Regarding the sun filled, air floating semi-sphere of the dome, Procopius of Caesarea, an VI Century writer, once said: "From the lightness of the building, it does not appear to rest upon a solid foundation, but to cover the place beneath as though it were suspended from heaven by the fabled golden chain. Anyone can understand that no human power or art could have created such beauty, but through God's will only could such a miracle become complete".
The interior works in Hagia Sophia continued for several centuries. Evidently, it was distinguishable with its luxury (mosaics on golden floors, 8 green jasper columns from the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus). The walls of the cathedral are completely covered with mosaics, and nowhere is their flat character disturbed by protruding form. A part of the wall mosaic was lost during the period of iconoclasm, but was recovered later. One of the first reconstructions was performed on the mosaic of the Mother of God and Christ (IX Century), created by an anonymous author of the Macedonian Renaissance.
Today, the cathedral of St. Sophia – the mosque Hagia Sophia, is surrounded by four minarets. The Turks have built many mosques on the territory of the Byzantine empire, all created in the shape and form of the great and unsurpassed cathedral of St. Sophia.
Starting with 1935 Hagia Sophia became a museum. The cathedral is open every day, except for Mondays from 9:30AM until 4:30PM (July-August until 7:00PM).
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