Hagia Sophia

"God made me so proud because he helped me to deserve such a project: I have overcome you, O Solomon" - Justinian's statement was given on the occasion of the opening of the church. Hagia Sophia in 537 AD.

Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey is one of the most magnificent roof structures in the world. The outer outline suggests the shocking and visible success of this pitched bowl, with a diameter of 31m (100fit), can only perceive the value from within. Hagia Sophia - "Wisdom of holiness" - was built and decorated in just 6 years from 532 to 537. The magnificence and skill in the structure have shown any idea that Christian architecture the beginning of the early Middle Ages is declining.

Concept and design

When Justinian assigned his architect team to build the new Hagia Sophia, it was obvious that this was a style of building a new church in the early Christian world. Legend has it that an Angel designed for Justinian.The complexity of the project certainly shows confidence in an extraordinary architecture at a massive scale, requiring accurate calculations and the spirit of daring to think in engineering. Projection of letters to Anthemius and Isidore requires the construction of an unprecedented sacred space in any other church, it must be dedicated to the regular celebration of Byzantine rituals as well as the formal liturgical occasion in the rules. national scale.

The liturgy includes Communion in which bread and wine are brought through the community of believers to the Eastern sanctuary to offer in the Eucharist, preach the Bible and pray.The culmination of the ritual performed by the Patriarch at the silver altar, the ornament in the sanctuary filled with silver, gold and precious stones . Only the clerics and emperors, who are considered to represent God on this earth, are allowed to enter this Holy Pole.

Church diagram

The architect works at such a level that the marble floors are divided into stripes ('rivers') to help the chaplain in the church perform rituals. Although this function, this architecture is faithful to the way of exposing the light and enveloping space, especially under the main cascade, shortly afterwards in the Byzantine biblical theological commentary understands the expression Heaven's statue.

All arched roofs on the ceiling or on the upper walls are decorated with mosaic materials . In the 6th century, this topic covered only countless gold crosses and non-symbolic decorations, only from the 9th century onwards, symbolic themes such as the Virgin Mary and the Lord. Humans among the angels in the house still sell vows at the end of the church. C The Jésus horseshoe in the bowl of the bowl, and the portrait of the emperor and the important saints attached to Hagia Sophia are gradually supplemented with the sponsorship of the emperor. The church also gradually increased its income and displayed all the Christian relics, including a real piece of the Cross, indicating that the church is not used on the liturgical level but also for sincerity and prayers. pray.

Enter the church from a Roman hall located in the West. A second incredible entrance is located on the southwestern side of the church, next to the Grand Patriarchate, an additional work on the 6th-century church compound, near the separate Baptism Hall. The inner gate roof has nine doors leading to the middle of the church, there are four ramps at the corners of the church to reach the corridor located in the North, West and South.

Build:

Hagia Sophia is the most massive church in the early Christian world, the size of the church fully felt in the dim light at dawn, liturgical hours, and flickering candlelight.

Procopius, writing respectfully to Justinian right after the completion of the year 537, describing the visitors' astonishment how the upside down bowl is?

The answer is that people hide structural techniques. Visitors only see the main bowl with the half-moon bowls as wall supports in the East and West, and see the sun's rays from the window illuminating the church. People see rows of marble columns (marble colored from various quarries in the Mediterranean) and grained marble tiles (often clad in a "backrest" style with lines balances increase the mysticism in stone material). The marble columns carved in the lower part, decorative floating blocks and the space between the two upper faces of the two arches meet and the arched line (white marble from the sea Proconnesia quarries) Marmara).

But it is almost impossible to find local green limestone or granite, bricks, mortar, and lead and iron anchor bars to support structural details beneath all of these exterior cladding, It is also not possible to see the horizontal beam of horizontal force distribution for the pile caps between the column and the curved arch roof which is an indispensable part in stabilizing the pressure inside the structure. The combination of rows of marble columns and arched roofs made of brick was taken from the concrete architecture of the Roman Empire in Italy, but the selection of materials was traditionally built in the region of Roman Asia .

Actual data:

1. The middle of the church: 78x72m
2. Diameter: 31m
3. Height: 62m
4. Materials: Stone, brick, mortar, iron and wood to make the anchor and bar.

History later:

Hagia Sophia is still considered the largest church in the Byzantine Empire, as well as the main memorial work of orthodox Christianity. It was the cathedral itself that served as the headquarters of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the main liturgical church of the Byzantine Empire until 1453, except for a time of making Latin cathedral from 1204 to 1261.

The later major changes in Justinian's church included the rebuilding of the upper bowl of the bowl about 7m (23fit) after collapsing in 558 (Isidore's work), giving the church an existing line. great as well as rescuing the horizontal fracture force of the first, bottom bowl, can rebuild the architectural panel in the north and south of the middle of the church after the earthquake in 869, an architect American Trdat rebuilt the Eastern main arch, a half-moon-shaped roof and many parts of the roof of the bowl after the earthquake in 989. In addition, in 1317 reinforced the anti-wall pillars to the North and East, and rebuilt the arch. to the east, the bowl was half-moon shaped and many parts of the roof stood up after the 1346 earthquake.

In 1453, the city of Constantinople fell into the hands of the Turks of the Ottoman Empire, many troops broke into the church while many were attending Misa Mass here.Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque, shortly after adding 4 towers and other architectural details of Islam - a semicircle at the end of the church on the ground floor transformed into a mihrab direction about Mecca, adding a mimbar on the right and the seat of the Muslim king on the left, many giant plates with inscriptions in Arabic on brick pillars. The architecture of the church was simulated and developed by Siman architects like the Suleyman mosque. The last major overhaul was carried out by Swiss architect Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati in 1847-1849, a bold job that was impressive about the reinforcement and redecoration. The building became a museum in 1931.