(HAGIA SOPHIA )
Hagia Sophia is a great architectural beauty and an important monument both for Byzantine and for Ottoman Empires.
Once a church, later a mosque, and now a museum at the Turkish Republic, Hagia Sophia has always been the precious
of its time.
(CONSTANTIEN’S CHURCH)
Known as the “Great Church” or “Magna Ecclesia” in Latin, the first church was built at the same location where there
had been a pagan temple before.
It was Constantius II who inaugurated Hagia Sophia on 15 February 360.
From the chronicles of Socrates of Constantinople, we know that the church was built by the orders of Constantine the
Great.
This first church was a wooden-roofed basilica with a nave flanked by two or four aisles, each carrying a gallery storey.
It was preceded by an atrium. This church was largely burned down in 404 during riots since patriarch John Chrysostom
was sent into exile by the Emperor Arcadius.
( THEODOSIUS || CHURCH )
After the first church’s being destroyed, Theodosius II ordered it to be repaired and inaugurated the second church on
10 October 405.
Today we still don’t know whether the original fourth century plans remained unchanged or not.
But still it consisted of standard architectural elements of the Byzantine period: an atrium, probably a narthex and a
basilica with galleries.
The second church was completely destroyed during the tumult of the Nika Revolt in 13-14 January 532.
(Today, some marble blocks from this second church are represented at the courtyard of the third church/ the museum)
( JUSTINAIN'S CHURCH )
Only a short time after the destruction of the second church, Justinian the Great suppressed the riots, and set about
rebuilding what was damaged and destroyed.
He commissioned two men, Anthemius of Tralles and the Elder Isidore of Miletus to build a third church at the same
location which would be greater than its previous predecessors.
Anthemius and Isidore were not referred as architects, but they were called “mechanikoi” which means the masters of
the science of the mechanics.
Indeed, Anthemius was a mathematician and physicist, and Isidore was a professor of geometry and mechanics. None of
them is known to have any building experience before Hagia Sophia.
However, they created one of the most significant monuments on earth.
The construction started only a short while after the end of the Nika Revolt.
Many materials had been brought from all over the empire, including yellow stone from Syria, porphyry from Egypt and
Hellenic Columns from the Artemis Temple in Ephesus.
More than ten thousand people worked for the construction and the third church was inaugurated by the emperor on
27 December 537.
The mosaics were finished later on, during the reign of Justin II (565-578).
Several earthquakes happened and gave damaged to Hagia Sophia. The earthquakes on August 553 and December 557
caused cracks in the main dome and the eastern half-dome, and with the earthquake on 7 May 558,
the main dome collapsed completely while destroying the ambon, the altar and the ciborium over it.
This time it was Isodorus the Younger, the nephew of Isidore of Miletus, who was going to rebuild the dome.
He elevated the dome by 6,25 meters, which got its current height today , totally 55,6 meters. With the presidency of
the Patriarch Eutcyhius, the cathedral opened again on 23 December 562.
It became the seat of the Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople, also imperial ceremonies were held there.
( HAGIA SOPHIA MOSQUE )
The prophet of God in Muslim religion, Muhammad, had prophesied that the first Muslim to pray in Hagia Sophia would
go to paradise.
Since then, it was a great ambition for Muslim leaders to get Hagia Sophia.
On 29 May 1453, The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmet II, conquered Constantinople after a 54 day siege.
He directly went to the ancient Byzantine cathedral of Hagia Sophia.
When he saw a man hacking the stones of the church and saying that this was a temple for infidels, Mehmet II ordered
the looting to be stopped and the church to be converted into a mosque.
With the following years, Sultans added something to the building.
Sultan Bayezid ordered a new minaret changing the previous one of his fathers’.
In the 16th century, Suleiman the Magnificent brought two colossal candles from Hungary to be placed on both sides of
the mihrab.
To the end of the 16th century during the reign of Selim II, famous architect Sinan strengthened the building by adding
structural supports to its exterior.
He also built two minarets on the western end of the building and the mausoleum of Selim II to the southeast of the
building.
In 1600s, two mausoleums were added next to Selim II’s: Murad III and Mehmed III.
Two restorations were done in Hagia Sophia at the following years. In 1739, during the reign of Mahmud I, a medrese, a
kitchen to distribute poor, and a library, and in 1740 a fountain for ritual ablutions were built.
( HAGIA SOPHIA'S MUSEUM )
If any western visitors wanted to visit Hagia Sophia prior to Fossati restoration, they needed a “firman”, a special permit
from the sultan which was difficult to obtain. During the restoration, travelers had a chance to see the work.
In 1934, the founder of Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, ordered the building to be transformed into a
museum.
The uncovering of mosaics had already begun in 1931 by the leadership of Thomas Whittemore.
This time the white plasters covering the mosaics were pulled out, carpets on the floor were removed and the original
marble décor could be seen for the first time in centuries. Hagia Sophia Museum opened in 1 February 1935.