Hagia SophiaKEN DARK

Although many churches in the Orthodox

Christian world have been dedicated to Hagia

Sophia (“the Wisdom of God”), the most

famous was in the center of Byzantine Constan-

tinople, immediately north of the Augusteum

and south of Hagia Eirene. Known just as

“the Great Church,” this was the city’s most

important religious monument from the

fourth century onward, and is today probably

the most famous Byzantine building in the

world. After the Ottoman conquest, the church

was used as a mosque (“Ayasofya Camii”),

before becoming a museum (“Ayasofya

Muzesi”) in 1935.

The original church was dedicated by CONS‐

TANTIUS II in 360. This was probably an

Figure 1 Interior of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul. © Photo Spectrum/Heritage Images/Scala, Florence.

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,

and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 3028–3029.

© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah03107

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apsed BASILICA, but is known almost entirely

from textual accounts. Its fifth-century succes-

sor, built after a fire in 404, dedicated by

THEODOSIUS II in 415, and destroyed by fire dur-

ing the NIKA REVOLT in 532, is almost as poorly

understood – although part of its western side

has been excavated. By contrast, the sixth-

century church (dedicated in 537) is

among the best-preserved sixth-century struc-

tures in Europe. Designed by Isidore of Miletos

and Anthemios of Tralles on the orders of

JUSTINIAN I, this was the largest church

constructed prior to the sixteenth century.

The design was innovative, although several

precedents – including the nearby church of

Sts. Sergios and Bacchos – have been identi-

fied. It was an aisled, domed basilica about

135 m long, with galleries three stories high

accessed by corner ramps. The central dome is

31.87 m in diameter, rising 55.6 m above floor

level and supported by four massive arches. The

eastern and western arches have semi-domed

exedras, and two narthexes at the west end

led into an atrium (largely destroyed)

containing an impressive fountain. The church

was elaborately decorated with wall-mosaics,

added successively throughout the Byzantine

period. Many of those visible today date from

the Middle Byzantine period, when the mosaic

scheme was embellished following the end

of iconoclasm, but parts of both the Early

Byzantine and Late Byzantine decorative

schemes survive.

Although built on a massive scale, this

was only part of a much more extensive inter-

related series of ecclesiastical buildings.

These – much less studied until recently than

the church – included a “Great Baptistery”

north of the church, and the Patriarchate

(Patriarchal palace) to its south. The best pre-

served of these ancillary structures are a small,

centrally planned domed structure southwest

of the church, known as the “baptistery,” and a

domed rotunda to its northeast, known as the

“Skeuophylakion” (treasury) – although these

identifications are far from certain.

Damaged by fire and earthquakes in the

550s, the church was restored and rededicated

in 562. It was again damaged by earthquakes

and again restored in the ninth and tenth cen-

turies and looted during the Fourth Crusade in

1204. After use as a Catholic cathedral, it was

returned to Orthodox use and refurbished in

1261. The structure was restored again in

the fourteenth century, but was in a poor

state of repair when captured by the Ottomans

in 1453.

SEE ALSO: Baptisteries; Byzantium; Church

architecture; Constantinople, history and

monuments; Mosaics, Byzantine; Patriarchs,

Christian.

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Dark, K. R. and Kostenec, J. (2006) “The

Byzantine Patriarchate in Constantinople and the

baptistery of the church of Hagia Sophia.”

Architectura 36: 113–30.

Mainstone, R. J. (1988) Hagia Sophia: architecture,

structure and liturgy of Justinian’s Great Church.

London.

Mark, R. and Cakmak, A. S., eds. (1992) Hagia

Sophia from the age of Justinian to the present.

Cambridge.

Van Nice, R. L. (1965) Saint Sophia in Istanbul:

an architectural survey. Washington.

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