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years since the date it was
constructed (537), until the date when Istanbul was
conquered. As of this date until the year of 1934,
served the Moslems as a mosque for 481 years. After an
extended restoration with the instruction given by the
founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal
Atatlirk, in order to bring the Byzantine mosaics which
were coated with stucco in 1750 into daylight,
the building was opened to the visitors as a museum in
February 1935 and it is the 3rd museum which is most
visited in Turkey. The name Hagia Sophia, is one of the
3 adjectives dedicated to the God in Christianity. These
3 adjectives are defined as Hagia Sophia (Divine Wisdom),
Hagia Irene (Divine Peace) and Hagia Dynamis (Divine
Power).
HISTORY
In 360, the Byzantine Emperor
Constantine had a great structure named Megalo Ekklesia'
(the Great Church), constructed in the city center,
where Hagia Sophia is standing today. Between the years
of 404 - 4l6, a bigger and more lasting church was
constructed by the architect Ruffinos on the foundations
of this wooden building, which was completely burnt
during a fire on June 20th, 404 and it was opened for
the public on October 10th, 4l6. The financier of this
second church, with 3 naved basilica design, was Emperor
Theodosius. The foundation walls, stairs and the sheep
designed pediment friezes of the building just in front
of Hagia Sophia are seen at the entrance of the museum.
They were irreparably destroyed by the rebels against
the Emperor during the sanguinary Nika (Victory) revolt,
which began on January 13th and 14th, 532.
After the Nika revolt, Emperor
Justinian, who met his throne again, had the present
church constructed. He gave the task of constructing
this church to the two most famous Anatolian architects
of the time, mathematician Anthemius of Tralles (today's
Ay dm city) and Isidorus from Miletus.
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The best construction
material and the best masons were brought to the
city from all over the country, and for the 5
years, over 100 masters and 10.000 laborers
worked in the construction.
The marble used for the inner decoration of the
church were transported from all the
Mediterranean countries, and especially from the
marble quarries in Anatolia. The four green
granite columns on both sides of the nave were
brought from the Harbor Gymnasium in Ephesus,
the pairs of porphyry columns at the corners
were brought from the Apollon Temple in Baalbek
(in Lebanon today). Special tiles and bricks
were brought from the Island of Rhodes in order
to |
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built the giant dome with
lighter material. A total sum of 107 columns
were used in the building and 40 of them are in
the nave, the rest 67 in the galleries upstairs.
In the Iconoclastic Era that
started in 726, the mosaics concerning the
religious scenes and holy personalities of all
churches together with Hagia Sophia's were
destroyed and simple cross shapes were decorated
instead. With the end of this era in 843,
religious pictures were allowed again and Hagia
Sophia was redecorated with frescoe and mosaics,
generally ordered by the emperors. During the
Latin invasion in 1204, the treasury was
plundered by the Crusaders. The mosaics with
gold colored background were ruined to a large
extend. In this period, Hagia Sophia was used as
the Catholic Master Church. When the Latin
invaders abandoned the city in 1261, the church
came into use as an Orthodox church again. Hagia
Sophia was damaged badly because of the
earthquakes in 14th and 15th centuries and it
was neglected.
Following the conquest, Fatih
Sultan Mehmet, performed the Friday service in
Hagia Sophia on 3rd of June, 1453- He reserved
the necessary fund to restore and save the
building. Hagia Sophia was converted into a
mosque. With this fund, first a niche was
constructed in the Kaaba direction, then a brick
minaret and a madrasah with 12 rooms. A
courtyard and a cistern in place of the chamber,
where the rooms of the clergy used to be, were
constructed outside in front of the building.
The mosaics were covered with thin lime; the
cross shapes on the wall were engraved, and
vertical sides of the cross shapes on the doors
were extracted; by this way, without giving much
damage to the building, the place was made
suitable for the Moslem service. The most
extended restoration carried out in Hagia Sophia
inthe Ottoman times was the one made by the
Swedish Gaspare and Trajano FOSSATI brothers
between the years of 1847 and 1849- The
architects, who came to Istanbul in 1837 in
order to repair the Russian Embassy, in respect
with the wish of the Ottoman administration,
reinforced the dome of Hagia Sophia with 2
chains, adjusted 12 inclined columns, fixed the
madrasah, which was destroyed in 1479 and built
the cloakroom in the garden. The sultan's lodge
inside the nave is the work of the same people.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN AND DIMENSIONS
Hagia Sophia, which suits the
'3 nave domed basilica' description as an
architectural design, is the first construction
of this type. Hagia Sophia is also the
construction where the 'pendentives' decorated
with the drawings of Cherubim angels, from the
14th century, were used for the first time. The
55.6 m. high dome is one of the 5 highest domes
not only in Istanbul and in Turkey, but also in
the whole world. After the earthquake in 553,
the dome was 6.5 m. heightened and reconstructed
between the years of 558 -562. Since it could
not be built round, it has an ellipse shape and
the diameter is 31 m. on one axis and 33 m. on
the other. The main area of this total 100 m.
long and 7.570 m2 large construction is 75 m. to
70 m. The narthex that is located just at the
entrance is around 60 m. long, 11 m. wide.
NARTHEXES
There is no ornamentation on
the walls and ceiling of this part, which is the
preparation place before praying. A few panels
of mosaics, which were brought here from various
constructions, one tomb brought from Zeyrek and
high relief panels of the resolutions decided in
the consul held in the 12th century can be seen
here. There are 9 cross shaped arcades on the
ceiling which is in a very bad condition because
of humidity.
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On the inner cornices
of the door that provides the passage
from the outer narthex to the inner
narthex, MDCCCXLVII is written; the date
of 1847 with roman figures. Furthermore,
the crosses, whose horizontal axles were
extracted in the Ottoman Period, can
also be seen on the door folds. The
amazingly beautiful ornaments of the
construction begin as of the inner
narthex. By placing colourful marble
panels symmetrically on the wall, the
lines of the stones create mystic
figures. The ceilings of this part are
completely covered with golden mosaics.
A 16.000 m2 area within the construction
is decorated with marble paving called
Tesserae, and colourful stone pieces. |
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This area is more
than two times the total area of the
church itself.
There are 9 doors for
the passage from the inner narthex to
the main residence. 3 of these doors,
placed on either side, were for public
use. The big door in the very center
belonged to the Emperor, and the
relatively lower entrances were for the
high ranking officials and directors and
the escorts, accompanied the emperor.
The golden plating of the Emperor's door
and the silver plating of the two doors
on both sides of it were taken off
during the Latin invasion. Above the
Emperor's door, there is a mosaic dated
as the 9th century with Jesus Christ in
the middle, and in the medallions on the
left and right side of it, there are
Virgin Mary and Arc Angel Gabriel.
NAVE
Entering the nave
from the inner narthex, the first thing
that draws the attention is the
magnificence of the dome that looks as
if it is an independent piece from the
church itself. In the center of the dome,
around which there are 40 windows, was
the painting of Jesus Christ from the
Byzantine period. After the conquest,
the painting was covered with verses of
the Koran. On the triangular pendentives
which carries the dome and placed
between the arches at four corners,
there is the pictures of Cherubim angels
with 3 wings. The faces" of the angels,
that are 11 m. long, are in lion, bull,
eagle and angel shapes, and each one is
covered with one polygonal star.
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The
portrayals of Ignatios,
patriarch of Constantinople in
9th century, 4th century
patriarch, John Crysostom, and
the patriarch of Antiochia
(Antakya today) of 2nd century,
Ignatios Theophoros are seen on
the side wall under the windows
to the left of the entrance. The
1.250 It. giant marble
containers, placed on the left
and right side of the entrance
are brought from the ancient
city of Pergamon in 16th century.
The rectangular marble column
placed just at the beginning of
the left isle, is named as the 'crying
column' or 'sweating column'. It
is believed that if you insert
your thumb in the hole on the
column a little bit damp inside
and make one complete circle,
the wish comes true. |
The Arabic written
huge plates on the side walls and the
corners, have the names of the leading
personalities of Islam. On the right
side of the niche, the name Allah (God),
on the left 'Muhammed', on the side
walls, the four initial Caliphs of Islam;
Ebu Bekir, Omer, Osman and Ali, and on
both sides of the entrance, the
grandsons of the prophet, Hasan and
Hiiseyin names are placed. These 7.5 m.
wide round plates are accepted as some
of the greatest examples of calligraphy
in the world of Islam.
The place to the left
of the apse is the Sultan's lodge, while
the steps on the right side is the
pulpit, where the imam preaches on
Fridays. And just in front of the pulpit,
there is the Preacher's Throne, which is
a 16th century piece of art, and where
the Koran is read either in or on it.
The hand print, which is seen on the
wall by the red porphyry columns to the
right of the apse, is dedicated to
Virgin Mary. This marble piece was
brought here from Theotokos Church,
which is an other Byzantine work in
Istanbul. On the right isle, there is
the Hagia Sophia Library, which was
moved from the Palace Library in the
reign of Sultan Mahmut 1. in the 18th
century.
The mosaic panel,
which is the best protected one in the
church, is over the side door of the
inner narthex, that the emperors used as
the entrance in the Byzantine period,
whereas it is used as the exit today. In
this panel there is Virgin Mary seated
on a throne in the center with baby
Christ. The Emperor Constantine is on
the right, and Emperor Justinian on the
left. In the hands of Constantine the
Great, there is the model of the city
and in Justinian's, there is the model
of the church. Both emperors dedicated
their proud works to Virgin Mary and
Jesus Christ.
GALLERIES
You can reach the
upper floor, that was used by the women
during the service and the consuls, with
an inclined thoroughfare lis to the left
of the inner narthex. structure was
preferred instead of stairs by the order
of the queen, who was praying with the
other women, in order not to disturb the
queen as she was carried on shoulders
with a litter to the upstairs.
The cross shaped
wooden stretchers between the arcades in
the central gallery, just to the
opposite side of the niche, are elegant
hand made artifacts, that you can only
find similar ones in the Catherina
Monastery in Sina Desert. The south
gallery to the right side of the
entrance is the most attractive part of
the upper galleries. On the marble
panels at the left hand side, there are
the writings that are described as a
hearsay remained from the Vikings, who
aearsay remained visited Istanbul. The
engraved marble portal at the entrance
of the right wing of the gallery is
named as the 'Heaven's Door'. At the
back side of this portal, you can see
two cross motives.
When you pass through
the portal on the right side, there is
probably the most beautiful and most
attractive mosaic of Hagia Sophia. Very
fine and colourful mosaic tiles were
used for this scene, in which Jesus
Christ, Mother Mary and John the Baptist
appears together, although this panel
suffered great damage during the Latin
invasion, the mosaics still has a very
high artistic value. The scene named as
Deisis' dates back to 14th century and
depicts Mother Mary and John the Baptist
asking Jesus Christ, in grief, for the
sinful to be sent to heaven.
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At the end of
the gallery, there are two other
mosaic panels with different
emperors and their families
uepicted together with holy
personalities. Emperor Comnenos.
his Hungarian originated wife
Irene and their son Alexius are
portrayed with Virgin Mary and
baby Christ in her arms. On the
panel to the left, on the other
hand, Christ is seated on a
throne, and Empress Zoe and her
third husband Constantine
Monomachos are on both sides. In
this mosaic, where the empress
had been depicted with his first
husband Romanos III in the 11th
century the first time, it is
recognizable that the name and
the head of the |
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emperor in
the scene was changed after each
marriage of the empress. At the
furthest point of the gallery,
when you look at the upper part
of the apse, you can see the
mosaic, where Virgin Mary and
baby Christ are pictured with
the archangels Michael and
Gabriel (9th century). |
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