Many years ago, in my historic furnishings and architecture class I was introduced to Hagia Sophia. This Byzantine architecture of a massive building that still survived and was used 1,500 years later intrigued me more than any of the Gothic or renaissance structures we studied.
I was fascinated also by a religious structure that had been used by two competing religious ideologies. The architecture served them both. And now, we have a magnificent monument to faith blending two traditions together in a magnificent structure. Today, we see a glorious mosaic of Mary with the Christ child flanked on either side with ponderous medallions bearing the names of God and his prophet in Arabic.
My Visit
My bucket list has had Hagia Sophia (Aya Sofya in Turkish) on it since its first iteration. Now, I’ve fulfilled that. My visit to this amazing place lived up to expectations and calls for me to return.
Hagia Sophia is massive in size. Our guide told us 12,000 people could fit inside at full capacity. The floor space expansive enough for this. The volume of the building with the 50-meter tall dome dwarfs any amount of people inside it. This central dome is not the original, which a couple of times collapsed from earthquake. Since the dome was rebuilt by the Ottomans it is decorated with Islamic art.
On the floor of the main space is a grouping of circles. These circles are where Roman emperors were crowned for many generations. On one side of the altar area is a raised stone pavilion where Ottoman sultans would go for prayers in the building as a mosque.
Mosaics
Scattered throughout the building are magnificent mosaics from the Byzantine era. They were preserved by the Ottomans under plaster instead of destroying them. This has allowed them to be slowly revealed through restoration efforts for visitors to enjoy. These magnificent mosaics are mostly found upstairs in the gallery and the emperor’s private space. One that I almost missed is a glorious angel found on the inside of the front dome to the right of Mary and Jesus.
Many of the mosaics include Jesus in the center flanked by emperors or empresses. One over the main entrance door has a Roman emperor asking for forgiveness. Another has Constantine the Great.
Auxiliary Spaces
Inside the building is an area built as a reading room from the Ottoman era. Beside the door where visitors exit is a nook where the baptismal font now sits next to the baptistery building. This building is thought to be older than Hagia Sophia. It was converted to a tomb from the baptistery during the Ottoman reign when other tombs were built in the vicinity in front of the basilica.
These tombs are for some of the Ottoman’s great leaders and their families. They are beautifully decorated, especially the ceilings.
