The jewel that is Hagia Sophia

Islamic and Christian symbols side by side

I have been trying to think how I could write a post about Hagia Sophia (pronounced HIGH-ya so_FEE-ya, by the way) that could possibly tell you how amazing it is. In preparation I decided to research it myself. And along the way, I found out so many interesting facts about this place that I almost gave up. Instead, I'll do my best and also provide you some links to discover more if you're interested.

This dome rises 182 feet (55.6 meters) from the floor

What stands today is the third structure built, with the first two gone from earthquakes and fire during the fourth and fifth centuries. But in December 537, Byzantine Emperor Justinian walked into his new church, less than six years after construction was begun, to one of the still-extant Wonders of the Ancient World. Although the original dome collapsed some twenty years after it was first built, it was rebuilt to be almost exactly the same as what exists today.

The triangles under the dome are called pendentives and make it stronger

Just by chance, I learned that Nova on PBS just a few days after I returned from Istanbul aired the first of a three-part special about engineering marvels, one of which is called Hagia Sophia: Istanbul's Ancient Mystery. When I watched it, I learned some amazing facts, such as that the ancient architects from 1500 years ago figured out that they could use arches, bolsters, and pendentives all to make the structure work. Not to mention withstand earthquake after earthquake. (Istanbul lies on a major fault and is prone to them.)

The great arches and some of the amazing stonework

Today it's a museum, but it was a Christian church from the mid-sixth century until Constantinople was conquered by the Ottomans. When Sultan Mehmet laid eyes on the inside of the structure in May 1453, he decided to take out the Christian altar and relics and convert it to a mosque. It remained a mosque until 1935, when Atatürk founded the country of Turkey and made it into a museum. There is quite a bit of controversy still going on around Hagia Sophia, with Muslims wanting to convert it a mosque again, and Christians wanting it to revert to its original structure, a church.

What is left of the Deësis mosaic

All of the beautiful Christian mosaics had been plastered over when it was converted to a mosque, but many of them have been uncovered, now that it's become a museum. They are major tourist attractions, and this beautiful mosaic is really stunning to see. If you want to look at all of them, you can do so by scrolling down a ways on that first Wikipedia link and checking them all out, along with some history about when they were each completed.

Komnenos mosaic

This one depicts the Virgin Mary in the middle, the Christ Child in her arms, with Emperor John II Komnenos on the left holding a bag of money and with his wife the Empress Eirene on the right, donating it to Hagia Sophia. This mosaic was created in the 12th century. (There was a sign explaining it all right next to it.)

Looking down from the balcony

There are two levels inside, and I climbed up to take this picture and to show you that there is constant reconstruction going on inside (the green platforms on the left of the picture). I also found some really interesting facts about it on this Livescience website: Hagia Sophia: Facts, History & Architecture. Really, I finally figured out that I cannot do justice to this wonderful jewel, so I leave you to enjoy it as much or as little as you want through these links.
:-)