when were the minarets added to the hagia sophia
Hagia Sophia


Selim II and designed by the famous Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan. Both are 60 metres in height, and with their thick and massif patterns, complete Hagia Sophia's main structure. Many ornaments and details were added to these minarets on repairs during the 15th, 16th, and 19th centuries, which reflect each period's characteristics and ideals. Numerous buttresses have been added throughout the centuries. The flying buttresses to the west of the building, although thought to have been constructed by the Crusaders upon their visit to Constantinople, are actually
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Hagia Sophia


made from wood over one of the half domes soon after Hagia Sophia's conversion from a cathedral to a mosque. This minaret does not exist today. One of the minarets (at southeast) was built from red brick and can be dated back from the Fatih Sultan Mehmed period or Beyazıd II period. The other three were built from white limestone and sandstone, of which the slender northeast column was erected by Sultan Bayezid II during the Selim II period, while the two identical larger minarets to the west were erected by Sultan
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Hagia Sophia


to the foundation. Hagia Sophia is famous for the light that reflects everywhere in the interior of the nave, giving the dome the appearance of hovering above. This effect was achieved by inserting forty windows around the base of the original structure. Moreover, the insertion of the windows in the dome structure lowers its weight. The minarets were an Ottoman addition and not part of the original church's Byzantine design. They were built for notification of invitations for prayers (Adhan: أَذَان) and announcements. Mehmed had built a minaret
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Hagia Sophia


its conversion.." LiveScience. The bells, altar, iconostasis, and other relics were destroyed and the mosaics depicting Jesus, his Mother Mary, Christian saints, and angels were also destroyed or plastered over. Islamic features – such as the mihrab (a niche in the wall indicating the direction toward Mecca, for prayer), minbar (pulpit), and four minarets – were added. It remained a mosque until 1931 when it was closed to the public for four years. It was re-opened in 1935 as
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Selimiye Mosque


Sai, claiming that Sinan had taken his inspiration from Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia. Perhaps lending more credence to this idea is a quote by Sinan in which he claims that he has built a taller dome than Hagia Sophia: "In this mosque...I [have] erected a dome six cubits higher and four cubits wider than the dome of Hagia Sophia." In order to accentuate and draw attention to the centralize structure of the mosque, the traditional placement of different sized minarets was abandoned from the design as Sinan believed that
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Islamic architecture


of early great mosques, founded in 670 AD and dating in its present form largely from the Aghlabid period (9th century). The Great Mosque of Kairouan is constituted of a massive square minaret, a large courtyard surrounded by porticos and a huge hypostyle prayer hall covered on its axis by two cupolas. The Great Mosque of Samarra in Iraq, completed in 847 AD, combined the hypostyle architecture of rows of columns supporting a flat base above which a huge spiraling minaret was constructed. The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul also influenced Islamic
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Little Hagia Sophia


Black Eunuch, custodian of the "Bab-ı-Saadet" (literally "The Gate of Felicity" in Ottoman Turkish) in the Sultan's residence, the Topkapı Palace. At that time the portico and madrasah were added to the church. In 1740 the Grand Vizier Hacı Ahmet Paşa restored the mosque and built the "Şadırvan" (fountain). Damage caused by the earthquakes of 1648 and 1763 was repaired in 1831 under the reign of Sultan Mahmud II. In 1762 the minaret was first built. It was
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Hagia Sophia


were endowed most of the existing houses in the city and the area of the future Topkapı Palace. From 1478, 2,360 shops, 1,300 houses, 4 caravanserais, 30 "boza" shops, and 23 shops of sheep heads and trotters gave their income to the foundation. Through the imperial charters of 1520 (AH 926) and 1547 (AH 954) shops and parts of the Grand Bazaar and other markets were added to the foundation. Before 1481, a small minaret was erected on the southwest corner of the building,
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Saint Sofia Church, Sofia


the 6th century (527-565). It is thus a contemporary of the better-known Hagia Sophia church in Constantinople. During the Second Bulgarian Empire (spanning the 12th to 14th centuries), the structure acquired the status of a metropolitan church. In the 14th century, the church gave its name to the city. In the 16th century, during Ottoman rule, the church was converted into a mosque: the original 12th-century frescoes were destroyed and minarets were added. In the 19th century two earthquakes destroyed
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Hagia Sophia


Ali, and the two grandchildren of Muhammad: Hassan and Hussain, by the calligrapher Kazasker Mustafa İzzed Effendi (1801–1877). In 1850 the architects Fossati built a new sultan's lodge or loge in a Neo-Byzantine style connected to the royal pavilion behind the mosque. They also renovated the minbar and mihrab. Outside the main building, the minarets were repaired and altered so that they were of equal height. A timekeeper's building and a new madrasah (Islamic school) were built. When the restoration was finished,
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Hagia Sophia


above the stair tower. Later, the subsequent sultan, Bayezid II (1481–1512), built another minaret at the northeast corner. One of these collapsed after the earthquake of 1509, and around the middle of the 16th century they were both replaced by two diagonally opposite minarets built at the east and west corners of the edifice. In the 16th century, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520–1566) brought two colossal candlesticks from his conquest of Hungary and placed them on either side of the "mihrab". During Suleiman's
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Hagia Sophia


all who left us this work as inheritance, especially Istanbul's conqueror," strengthening the political movement to make the Hagia Sophia a mosque once again, which would reverse Atatürk's measure of turning the Hagia Sophia into a secular museum. In March 2019 Erdoğan said that he will change the status of Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque, adding that it was a "very big mistake" to turn it into a museum. As a UNESCO World Heritage site, this change would require approval from UNESCO's World Heritage
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Historic Areas of Istanbul


The Historic Areas of Istanbul are a group of sites in the capital district of Fatih in the city of Istanbul, Turkey. These areas were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985. This World Heritage Site includes buildings and structures such as the Sarayburnu, the Topkapı Palace, the Hagia Sophia, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the Hagia Irene, Zeyrek Mosque, Süleymaniye Mosque, Little Hagia Sophia and the Walls of Constantinople. The World Heritage site covers four zones, illustrating the major phases of the city's history using
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Banknote Museum


or Bradbury Wilkins. The collection also includes the notes printed by the American Banknote Company which succeeded the British at the turn of the century. The American company printed Greek banknotes until about 1928. Subsequent to that the Bank of Greece undertook the printing of the currency on its own. One of the rarest banknotes on exhibit is the one depicting the Byzantine church of Hagia Sofia in Constantinople. Designed in 1920, the banknote depicts Hagia Sophia without the Ottoman minarets and was part of the Megali Idea. A few years later the
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Hagia Sophia, Thessaloniki


The Hagia Sophia (, "Holy Wisdom") in Thessaloniki, Greece, is one of the oldest churches in that city still standing today. It is one of several monuments in Thessaloniki included as a World Heritage Site on the UNESCO list. Since the 3rd century, there was a church in the location of the current Hagia Sophia. In the 8th century, the present structure was erected, based on the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey). In 1205, when the Fourth Crusade captured
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Hagia Sophia


of a small room in the museum complex to be used as a prayer room for Christian and Muslim museum staff, and since 2013 from the minarets of the museum the muezzin sings the call to prayer twice per day, in the afternoon. In 2007, Greek American politician Chris Spirou launched an international organization "Free Agia Sophia Council" championing the cause of restoring the building to its original function as a Christian church. Since the early 2010s, several campaigns and government high officials, notably Turkey's deputy prime minister Bülent Arınç
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History of Roman and Byzantine domes


were modeled similarly: Kılıç Ali Pasha Mosque and the Süleymaniye Mosque (1550–57). Other Ottoman mosques, although superficially similar to Hagia Sophia, have been described as structural criticisms of it. When Mimar Sinan set out to build a dome larger than that of Hagia Sophia with Selimiye Mosque (1569–74), he used a more stable octagonal supporting structure. The Selimiye Mosque is of the type originating with the Church of Sergius and Bacchus. Three other Imperial mosques in Istanbul built in this "Classical Style" of Hagia Sophia include
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Hagia Sophia


New Mosque (Istanbul), and the Fatih Mosque. Like the original plan of the Hagia Sophia, many of these mosques are also entered through a colonnaded courtyard. However, the courtyard of the Hagia Sophia no longer exists. Many Neo-Byzantine churches are modeled on the Hagia Sophia. The Kronstadt Naval Cathedral and Poti Cathedral closely replicate the internal geometry of the Hagia Sophia. The interior of the Kronstadt Naval Cathedral is a nearly 1-to-1 copy of the Hagia Sophia. The marble revetment also closely mimics the source work.
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Hagia Sophia


in November 2013, have been demanding that Hagia Sophia be converted into a mosque again. In 2015, in retaliation for the acknowledgment by Pope Francis of the Armenian Genocide, the Mufti of Ankara, Mefail Hızlı, stated that he believes the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque will be accelerated. On 1 July 2016 Muslim prayers were held again in the Hagia Sophia for the first time in 85 years. On 13 May 2017 a large group of people, organized by the Anatolia Youth Association (AGD), gathered in
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1509 Constantinople earthquake


columns and the dome was split. The former church of Hagia Sophia survived almost unscathed, although a minaret collapsed. Inside the mosque, the plaster that had been used to cover up the Byzantine mosaics inside the dome fell off, revealing the Christian images. The number of dead and injured is hard to estimate, with different sources giving accounts varying from 1,000 to 13,000. It is believed that some members of the Ottoman dynasty died in this earthquake. Aftershocks continued for 45 days after the earthquake, and people were unable to
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Hagia Sophia


reign, the frescoes above the narthex and imperial gates depicting Jesus, Mary and various Byzantine emperors were covered by whitewash and plaster, which was removed in 1930 under the Turkish Republic. During the reign of Selim II (1566–1574), the building started showing signs of fatigue and was extensively strengthened with the addition of structural supports to its exterior by Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan, who was also an earthquake engineer. In addition to strengthening the historic Byzantine structure, Sinan built the two additional large minarets at the western end of the
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History of Roman and Byzantine domes


much of the city of Constantinople in 532, including the churches of Hagia Sophia ("Holy Wisdom") and Hagia Irene ("Holy Peace"), Justinian had the opportunity to rebuild. Both had been basilica plan churches and both were rebuilt as domed basilicas, although the Hagia Sophia was rebuilt on a much grander scale. Built by Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus in Constantinople between 532 and 537, the Hagia Sophia has been called the greatest building in the world. It is an original and innovative design
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Hagia Sophia


walls. Diverting excess rainwater is the main solution to solve the deteriorating walls at the Hagia Sophia. Built between 532–537 a subsurface structure under the Hagia Sophia has been under investigation, using LaCoste-Romberg gravimeters to determine the depth of the subsurface structure and to discover other hidden cavities beneath the Hagia Sophia. The hidden cavities have also acted as a support system against earthquakes. With these findings using the LaCoste-Romberg gravimeters, it was also discovered that the Hagia Sophia's foundation is built on a slope of natural rock.
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Byzantine architecture


over Hagia Irene they repurposed it and made a few changes, but none as drastic as what was done to Hagia Sophia. Today, Hagia Irene is still standing and open to visitors as a museum. It is open everyday, except for Tuesdays. Construction of Hagia Irene The most famous example of Byzantine architecture is Hagia Sophia. The Hagia Sophia held the title of largest church in the world until the Ottoman Empire sieged the Byzantine capital. After the fall of Constantinople, the church was converted into a mosque and was used
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Hagia Sophia


Hagia Sophia (; from the Greek Αγία Σοφία, , "Holy Wisdom"; or "Sancta Sapientia"; ) is the former Greek Orthodox Christian patriarchal cathedral, later an Ottoman imperial mosque and now a museum ("Ayasofya Müzesi") in Istanbul, Turkey. Built in AD 537 at the beginning of the Middle Ages, it was famous in particular for its massive dome. It was the world's largest building and an engineering marvel of its time. It is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to
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Hagia Sophia


of the city. Shortly after Constantinople's defenses collapsed and the Ottoman troops entered the city victoriously, the pillagers and looters made their way to the Hagia Sophia and battered down its doors before storming in. All throughout the period of the siege of Constantinople, the trapped worshippers of the city participated in the Divine Liturgy and the Prayer of the Hours at the Hagia Sophia and the church formed a safe-haven and a refuge for many of those who were unable to contribute to the city's defense, which comprised women,
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Hagia Sophia


Islamic calligraphy on the dome of the cathedral should be removed, in order to permit the underlying Pantocrator mosaic of Christ as Master of the World, to be exhibited (assuming the mosaic still exists). The Hagia Sophia has been a victim to natural disasters that have caused deterioration to the buildings structure and walls. The deterioration of the Hagia Sophia's walls can be directly relate to salt crystallization. The crystallization of salt is due to an intrusion of rainwater that is at fault for the Hagia Sophia's deteriorating inner and outer
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Fossati brothers


-i Sanayi (1846-1848). They also built the Church of SS Peter and Paul between 1841 and 1843. In 1847, Sultan Abdülmecid appointed them to renovate the Hagia Sophia. They completed the restoration in two years, utilizing more than eight hundred workers. They were able to document a larger number of Byzantine mosaics whose precise location within the Hagia Sophia today have not been fully documented since many were either painted over or destroyed often without recording their original location. The drawings of the Hagia Sophia mosaics are kept
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Architecture of Star Wars


city of the Old Republic. The temple is described in the article as adapting "the robust typology of Mayan temples, with durasteel cladding specified for the external stone walls for improved defensive strength" and said to be a ziggurat that "is built above a Force-nexus and has ample room for training facilities, accommodation and the Jedi Archive." The temple has five towers, the tallest is Tranquillity Spire, that are stylistically similar to the minarets surrounding the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. "Star Wars Insider" listed it
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Hagia Sophia


expounds God as the light of the universe. The drawings of the Hagia Sophia mosaics are today kept in the Cantonal Archive of Ticino. A large number of mosaics were uncovered in the 1930s by a team from the Byzantine Institute of America led by Thomas Whittemore. The team chose to let a number of simple cross images remain covered by plaster but uncovered all major mosaics found. In 2000, The National Technical University of Athens has begun to use Non-Destructive Techniques along with infrared technology to scan walls of the Hagia Sophia
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Hagia Sophia


a museum by the Republic of Turkey. Hagia Sophia was, , the second-most visited museum in Turkey, attracting almost 3.3 million visitors annually. According to data released by the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry, Hagia Sophia was Turkey's most visited tourist attraction in 2015. From its initial conversion until the construction of the nearby Sultan Ahmed Mosque, aka the Blue Mosque of Istanbul, in 1616, it was the principal mosque of Istanbul. The Byzantine architecture of the Hagia Sophia served as inspiration for many other Ottoman mosques
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Hagia Sophia


, Saint Clement Catholic Church, Chicago, and Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The Catedral Metropolitana Ortodoxa in São Paulo and the Église du Saint-Esprit (Paris) closely follow the interior layout of the Hagia Sophia. Both include four semi-domes, but the two lateral semi-domes are very shallow. In terms of size, the Église du Saint-Esprit is about two thirds the scale of the Hagia Sophia. Synagogues based on the Hagia Sophia include the Congregation Emanu-El (San
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Christianity in Turkey


stated intent of flying it to the Vatican to meet the Pope and ask for his help to avoid serving in a "Muslim army". In 2013, the "Washington Post" reported that members of the ruling Ak Parti had expressed their desires to convert Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Hagia Sophia, which is called "ayasofya" in Turkish, is an ancient church dating to 360 AD that was converted into a mosque after Mehmed II conquered Constantinople in 1453. It has been a museum since 1935. Patriarch Bartholomew objected
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Ottoman architecture


for Ottoman needs. In what may be the most emblematic of the structures of this period, the classical mosques designed by Sinan and those after him used a dome-based structure, similar to that of Hagia Sophia, but among other things changed the proportions, opened the interior of the structure and freed it from the colonnades and other structural elements that broke up the inside of Hagia Sophia and other Byzantine churches, and added more light, with greater emphasis on the use of lighting and shadow with a huge volume of windows
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Christian influences in Islam


major basilica, Hagia Sophia, to a mosque and incorporated Byzantine architectural elements into their own work, such as domes. This was a part of the conversion of non-Muslim places of worship into mosques. The Hagia Sophia also served as model for many Ottoman mosques, such as the Shehzadeh Mosque, the Suleiman Mosque and the Rüstem Pasha Mosque. Christological motifs could be found in the works of Nizami, Rumi and others. Islamic artists applied Christian patterns for iconography. The picture of the birth of Muhammad in Rashid ad
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Little Hagia Sophia


Saints Sergius and Bacchus, between 527 and 536 AD (only a short time before the erection of the Hagia Sophia between 532 and 537), was one of the first acts of the reign of Justinian I. The new church lay at the border between the First and Τhird "Regio" of the City, in an irregular area between the Palace of Hormisdas (the house of Justinian before his accession to the throne) and the Church of the Saints Peter and Paul. Back then, the two churches shared the same narthex
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South Manchester Synagogue


' gallery. The community's former synagogue building was in Wilbraham Road, Fallowfield. The result of a competition won by Joseph Sunlight, the synagogue was completed in 1913, and is a structure of diverse stylistic influences and innovative technical construction, as recognised in its Grade II listing. Sunlight adopted the style of a Turkish mosque, complete with dome and minaret though interpreted in a modernist, it has even been said cubist, idiom. Sunlight confessed to quoting Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and the tower of Westminster Cathedral. The building
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Sultan Ahmed Mosque


main domes, six minarets, and eight secondary domes. The design is the culmination of two centuries of Ottoman mosque development. It incorporates some Byzantine Christian elements of the neighboring Hagia Sophia with traditional Islamic architecture and is considered to be the last great mosque of the classical period. The architect, Sedefkâr Mehmed Ağa, synthesized the ideas of his master Sinan, aiming for overwhelming size, majesty and splendour. It has a forecourt and special area for ablution. In the middle it has a big fountain. On the upper side
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Hagia Sophia


Like Ottoman mosques, many churches based on the Hagia Sophia include four semi-domes rather than two, such as the Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade. Several churches combine the layout of the Hagia Sophia with a Latin cross plan. For instance, the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis (St. Louis), where the transept is formed by two semi-domes surrounding the main dome. This church also closely emulates the column capitals and mosaic styles of the Hagia Sophia. Other similar examples include the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia
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Mimar Sinan


Sinan's work and of all classical Ottoman architecture. While it was being built, the architect's saying of ""You can never build a dome larger than the dome of Hagia Sophia and specially as Muslims"" was his main motivation. When it was completed, Sinan claimed that it had the largest dome in the world, leaving Hagia Sophia behind. In fact, the dome height from the ground level was lower and the diameter barely larger (0.5 meters, approximately 2 feet) than the millennium-older Hagia
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Hagia Sophia


Sophia (as though it were named after Sophia the Martyr), "sophia" being the phonetic spelling in Latin of the Greek word for wisdom, its full name in Greek is , "Naos tēs Hagias tou Theou Sophias", "Shrine of the Holy Wisdom of God". The church contained a large collection of relics and featured, among other things, a silver iconostasis. The focal point of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly one thousand years, the building witnessed the excommunication of Patriarch Michael I Cerularius officially communicated
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Jedi


tallest is Tranquility Spire, that are stylistically similar to the minarets surrounding the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. "Star Wars Insider" listed it as the one hundredth greatest thing about Star Wars in its one hundredth issue special. Not every "Dark Side"-user is a Sith; nor is every "Light Side"-user a Jedi. Within the "Star Wars" Expanded Universe, people of all species have demonstrated varying "force-sensitive" powers and abilities. These "force-wielders" are often depicted with little to no formal Jedi
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Temple Ohabei Shalom (Brookline, Massachusetts)


now the home of a Greek Orthodox church. The congregation’s present building, an opulent structure at 1187 Beacon Street in suburban Brookline that combined Byzantine Revival and Moorish Revival styles, was dedicated in 1925. The sanctuary seats 1,800. The smaller chapel accommodates 300. The domed building was intended to have a tall minaret, according to the architect’s renditions, although it was never built. The sanctuary was modeled on Hagia Sophia because of the excitement then felt over recent excavations of Byzantine-era synagogues in the land of Israel
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Fatih Mosque, Istanbul


designs invented by Sinan re-used repeatedly by himself and his successors throughout Istanbul (this technique is emulative of the Hagia Sophia). The 26 meter diameter center dome is supported by four semi-domes on each axis supported by four large marble columns. There are two minarets each with twin galleries. The calligraphy within the mosque and the mimbar exhibit a Baroque influence, but the white tiles of inferior quality are a poor comparison with the İznik tiled splendor of mosques such as the Rüstem Pasha Mosque. The mihrab dates from
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Kılıç Ali Pasha Complex


to a Byzantine basilica, thus the resemblance to Hagia Sophia. Above the prayer hall are five small domes carried on six marble columns. The tile panels placed high in the prayer hall are inscribed with ayats (verses) from the Quran. The mosque has only one minaret with one gallery. There are 247 windows including the 24 of the central dome. The mihrab is in a square projecting apse. A 16th-century ship lamp that used to hang from the central dome was taken off to be displayed at the Museum
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Hagia Sophia


front of Hagia Sophia and prayed the morning prayer with a call for the reconversion of the museum into a mosque. On 21 June 2017 Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) organized a special program, which included the recitation of the Quran and prayers in Hagia Sofia, to mark the Laylat al-Qadr, the program was broadcast live by state-run television TRT. On 31 March 2018 Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recited the first verse of the Quran in the Hagia Sophia, dedicating the prayer to the "souls of
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Islamic architecture


-mortar ribs and the spherical shell of the central dome of the Hagia Sophia were built simultaneously, as a self-supporting structure without any wooden centring. In the early Byzantine church of Hagia Irene, the ribs of the dome vault are fully integrated into the shell, similar to Western Roman domes, and thus are not visible from within the building. In the dome of the Hagia Sophia, the ribs and shell of the dome unite in a central medallion at the apex of the dome, the upper ends of the
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Sultan Ahmed Mosque


minarets and eight secondary domes. It sits next to the Hagia Sophia, another popular tourist site. After the Peace of Zsitvatorok and the crushing loss in the 1603–18 war with Persia, Sultan Ahmet I decided to build a large mosque in Istanbul to reassert Ottoman power. It would be the first imperial mosque for more than forty years. While his predecessors had paid for their mosques with the spoils of war, Ahmet I procured funds from the Treasury, because he had not gained remarkable victories. The construction was started in 1609
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Runic inscriptions in Hagia Sophia


"Nyfunna runor i Hagia Sofia", "Fornvännen" 84 (1989), 12-14. He read "ari:k" and interpreted it as a possible "Ári m(ade)" or "Ári m(ade the runes)". Because of the uncertainty in the reading, the inscription was not registered in the periodical "Nytt om runer 4" of 1989. Högberg had made a different reading from Larsson in 1975, and this reading was supported by Svein Indrelid, who is a professor of archaeology at the
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Greek genocide


rhetorician John Chrysostomos (349–407 AD), Hagia Sophia architect Isidore of Miletus (6th century AD), several imperial dynasties, including the Phokas (10th century) and Komnenos (11th century), and Renaissance scholars George of Trebizond (1395–1472) and Basilios Bessarion (1403–1472). Thus, when the Turkic peoples began their late medieval conquest of Asia Minor, Byzantine Greek citizens were the largest group of inhabitants there. Even after the Turkic conquests of the interior, the mountainous Black Sea coast of Asia Minor remained the heart
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Hagia Irene


and Hagia Dynamis. The building reputedly stands on the site of a pre-Christian temple. It ranks as the first church completed in Constantinople, before Hagia Sophia, during its transfiguration from a Greek trading colony to the eastern capital of the Roman Empire. According to later tradition, the Roman emperor Constantine I commissioned the first Hagia Irene church in the 4th century, which was completed by the end of his reign (337). It served as the church of the Patriarchate before Hagia Sophia was completed in 360 under Constantius
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Hagia Sophia, İznik


The Hagia Sophia (, "Holy Wisdom") at Nicaea is a Byzantine-era church in Nicaea (now known as İznik) in Turkey. The church of Hagia Sophia was built by Justinian I in the middle of the city in the 6th century. It was in this building that the Second Council of Nicaea met in 787 to end the first period of Byzantine Iconoclasm. A timber-roofed basilica with a central nave and side aisles, it was built shortly after 1065, but extensively remodeled after its conversion into
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Hagia Sophia


the actual construction of the walls of Hagia Sophia weakened the overall structure. The bricklayers used more mortar than brick, which is more effective if the mortar was allowed to settle as the building would have been more flexible; however, the builders raced to complete the building and left no time for the mortar to cure before they began the next layer. When the dome was erected, its weight caused the walls to lean outward because of the wet mortar underneath. When Isidore the Younger rebuilt the fallen cupola, he had first
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Byzantine architecture


for religious services until 1931, until it was reopened as a museum in 1935.Translated from Greek, the name Hagia Sophia means "Sacred Wisdom". The construction is a combination of longitudinal and central structures. This church was a part of a larger complex of buildings created by Emperor Justinian. This style influenced the construction of several other buildings, such as St. Peter's Basilica. Hagia Sophia should have been built to withstand earthquakes, but since the construction of Hagia Sophia was rushed this technology was not implemented in the design,
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Hagia Sophia


upwards into the dome to support it, restraining the lateral forces of the dome and allowing its weight to flow downwards. It was the largest pendentive dome in the world until the completion of St. Peter's Basilica, and has a much lower height than any other dome of such a large diameter. The great dome at the Hagia Sophia is one hundred and seven feet in diameter and is only two feet thick. The main building material for the Hagia Sophia composed of brick and mortar. Brick aggregate was used to make roofs
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Apollon Pontou FC


, the eagle of Sinopi's coin in the 4th century BC, has the eagle to look to his right feather.In David Talbot Rice's book "The Church of Hagia Sophia at Trebizond" published in 1968 in England, and on page 118, there is the full fresco painting of Emperor Manuel I who founded Hagia Sophia in Trebizond around 1250. This fresco, in normal size, was located in Hagia Sophia until 1850. Since then it has disappeared. In this fresco and the royal garments of the Emperor Manuel
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Little Hagia Sophia


Little Hagia Sophia Mosque (), formerly the Church of the Saints Sergius and Bacchus (, "Ekklēsía tôn Hagíōn Sergíou kaì Bákchou en toîs Hormísdou"), is a former Greek Eastern Orthodox church dedicated to Saints Sergius and Bacchus in Constantinople, converted into a mosque during the Ottoman Empire. This Byzantine building with a central dome plan was erected in the sixth century by Justinian, likely was a model for Hagia Sophia ("Holy Wisdom"), and is one of the most important early Byzantine buildings in Istanbul.
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Holy Wisdom


dates to the 6th century. It is not entirely clear when the first church at the site had been dedicated to "Hagia Sophia". The first church on the site, consecrated in 360 (during the reign of Constantius II), was simply known as the ("Megálē Ekklēsíā", "Great Church", or in Latin "Magna Ecclesia") A tradition which ascribes the church to Constantine the Great does not predate the 7th century. The dedication of the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople under Justin II served as
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Byzantine architecture


which is why the building has had to be repaired so many times due to damages from the earthquakes. The dome is the key feature of Hagia Sophia as the domed basilica is representative of Byzantine architecture. Both of the domes collapsed at different times throughout history due to earthquakes and had to be rebuilt. The original construction of Hagia Sophia was ordered by Emperor Constatine I in 360. His building of churches, specifically Hagia Sophia, was considered an incredibly significant component in his shift of the centralization of power from Rome in the
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Hagia Sophia


"), Emperor Constantine VII (913–919) wrote a detailed account of the ceremonies held in the Hagia Sophia by the emperor and the patriarch. Upon the capture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, the church was ransacked and desecrated by the Crusaders, as described by the Byzantine historian Niketas Choniates. During the Latin occupation of Constantinople (1204–1261) the church became a Roman Catholic cathedral. Baldwin I of Constantinople was crowned emperor on 16 May 1204 in Hagia Sophia, at a ceremony which closely followed Byzantine practices. Enrico Dandolo
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Hagia Sophia


the preservation of the dome's interior, afforded the opportunity to employ and train young Turkish conservators in the care of mosaics. By 2006, the WMF project was complete, though many other areas of Hagia Sophia continue to require significant stability improvement, restoration and conservation. Hagia Sophia is currently (2014) the second most visited museum in Turkey, attracting almost 3.3 million visitors annually. Although use of the complex as a place of worship (mosque or church) was strictly prohibited, in 2006 the Turkish government allowed the allocation
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Hagia Sophia


architects. The Imperial Gate was the main entrance between the exo- and esonarthex. It was reserved exclusively for the Emperor. The Byzantine mosaic above the portal depicts Christ and an unnamed emperor. A long ramp from the northern part of the outer Narthex leads up to the upper gallery. Throughout history the Hagia Sophia has been a victim to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, and has also fallen victim to vandalism. Structural damage can easily be seen on its exterior surface. To ensure that the Hagia Sophia did not ensue any
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Hagia Sophia


damage on the interior of the building, studies have been conducted using ground penetrating radar within the gallery of the Hagia Sophia. With the use of GPR (ground penetrating radar), teams discovered weak zones within the Hagia Sophia's gallery and also concluded that the curvature of the vault dome has been shifted out of proportion, compared to its original angular orientation. The upper gallery is laid out in a horseshoe shape that encloses the nave until the apse. Several mosaics are preserved in the upper gallery, an area traditionally reserved
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Hagia Sophia, Trabzon


Hagia Sophia (, meaning "Holy Wisdom" ) is a museum, formerly Greek Orthodox church which was converted into a mosque in 1584, and located in Trabzon, in the north-eastern part of Turkey. It dates back to the thirteenth century when Trabzon was the capital of the Empire of Trebizond. It is located near the seashore and two miles west of the medieval town's limits. It is one of a few dozen Byzantine sites still extant in the area. It has been described as being "regarded as
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Vault (architecture)


was reached in Hagia Sophia, for although it formed the model on which all subsequent Byzantine churches were based, so far as their plan was concerned, no domes approaching the former in dimensions were even attempted. The principal difference in some later examples is that which took place in the form of the pendentive on which the dome was carried. Instead of the spherical spandril of Hagia Sophia, large niches were formed in the angles, as in the Mosque of Damascus, which was built by Byzantine workmen for the Al-Walid
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Alexios Komnenos (protosebastos)


towards evening Maria and her followers were driven from the arches at the entrance of the Augoustaion and their positions on top of the Milion and the Church of Alexios (on the western side of the square, north of the Milion) into the open square. Protected by their fellows who fired missiles from the upper galleries of the Hagia Sophia, the rebels began to withdraw into the exonarthex of the Hagia Sophia, while the imperials were reluctant to follow "in fear of the temple's narrow passageways". At this point,
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Hagia Sophia


Many religious structures have been modeled on the Hagia Sophia's core structure of a large central dome resting on pendentives and buttressed by two semi-domes. A notable Venetian example is the High Altar of Santa Maria della Salute. Several mosques commissioned by the Ottoman dynasty closely mimic the geometry of the Hagia Sophia, including the Süleymaniye Mosque and the Bayezid II Mosque. In many cases, Ottoman architects preferred to surround the central dome with four semi-domes rather than two. This is true in the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the
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Hagia Sophia


the Hagia Sophia and has been dated to the 6th century. It is about 7 meters long and Eastern Roman sources say it was made with wood from Noah's Ark. At the northwest of the building, there is a column with a hole in the middle covered by bronze plates. This column goes by different names; the perspiring column, the wishing column, the sweating column or the crying column. The column is said to be damp when touched and have supernatural powers. The legend states that since St. Gregory the Miracle
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Hagia Sophia


adorned with precious stones. The portraits of the archangels Gabriel and Michael (largely destroyed) in the bema of the arch also date from the 9th century. The mosaics are set against the original golden background of the 6th century. These mosaics were believed to be a reconstruction of the mosaics of the 6th century that were previously destroyed during the iconoclastic era by the Byzantines of that time, as represented in the inaugural sermon by the patriarch Photios. However, no record of figurative decoration of Hagia Sophia exists before this time.
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Iconoclasm


study concluded that it was broken with instruments at an earlier unknown time between the 3rd and 10th centuries. Certain conquering Muslim armies have used local temples or houses of worship as mosques. An example is Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople), which was converted into a mosque in 1453. Most icons were desecrated and the rest were covered with plaster. In the 1920s, Hagia Sophia was converted to a museum, and the restoration of the mosaics was undertaken by the American Byzantine Institute beginning in 1932. Certain Muslim denominations
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Hagia Sophia


the city, including the golden mosaics of the Hagia Sophia. Many of these items were shipped to Venice, whose Doge, Enrico Dandolo, had organized the invasion and sack of Constantinople after an agreement with Prince Alexios Angelos, the son of a deposed Byzantine emperor. Following the building's conversion into a mosque in 1453, many of its mosaics were covered with plaster, due to Islam's ban on representational imagery. This process was not completed at once, and reports exist from the 17th century in which travelers note that
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Hagia Sophia


the library of the museum), an "Imaret" (soup kitchen for distribution to the poor) and a library, and in 1740 a "Şadirvan" (fountain for ritual ablutions), thus transforming it into a "külliye", i.e. a social complex. At the same time, a new sultan's lodge and a new mihrab were built inside. Restoration of the Hagia Sophia was ordered by Sultan Abdülmecid and completed by eight hundred workers between 1847 and 1849, under the supervision of the Swiss-Italian architect
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Church of St. Polyeuctus


Hagia Sophia a few years later. In light of this rivalry, it is perhaps no coincidence that Justinian too, when he beheld the completed Hagia Sophia, is said to have cried out: "Solomon, I have surpassed thee." The importance of the Solomonic allusions is however questioned by some scholars, who see the church more as a statement of the imperial prestige of the Old Roman aristocracy, from which Juliana descended, and of Chalcedonian orthodoxy, which she had championed during the reign of the Monophysite emperor Anastasius I
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Dome


Mosque (1437–1447) and Selimiye Mosque in Edirne. The Selimiye Mosque was the first structure built by the Ottomans that had a larger dome than that of the Hagia Sophia. The dome rises above a square bay. Corner semi-domes convert this into an octagon, which muqarnas transition to a circular base. The dome has an average internal diameter of about 31.5 meters, while that of Hagia Sophia averages 31.3 meters. Designed and built by architect Mimar Sinan between 1568 and 1574, when he finished it he was 86 years
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Isidore of Miletus


Hagia Sophia that measured 70 by 75 metres (230 x 250 ft), making it the largest church in Constantinople, but the original dome was nearly 6 metres (20 ft) lower than it was constructed, “Justinian suppressed these riots and took the opportunity of marking his victory by erecting in 532-7 the new Hagia Sophia, one of the largest, most lavish, and most expensive buildings of all time.” Although Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles were not formally educated in architecture, they were scientists
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Templon


crucifix. There was an inscription to St. John the Theologian over a side door, since the crypt of the saint was within the enclosed sanctuary. St. John the Baptist was probably carved over the other door of the templon of Hagia Sophia, since he features prominently in liturgical writings of the church. In any case, the majority of templa followed the same basic design. They were usually carved of monochrome marble, though some, like Hagia Sophia’s, were covered in precious metals and others used polychrome marbles. The slabs
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Scythian Monks


Emperor Anastasius I, who was a convinced Monophysite. Vitalian was a native of Scythia Minor and one of the Scythian monks was a relative of his. The rebellion started in 512, when a nearly identical formula to that of the Scythian monks, added to the "Trisagion" in the liturgy of Hagia Sophia, was removed by Emperor Anastasius II. The rebellion continued until 515, when Vitalian was defeated and forced to go into hiding. By the reign of Anastasius' successor, Justin I, orthodoxy extended even to the
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Constantinople


empire for over a thousand years. At its peak, roughly corresponding to the Middle Ages, it was the richest and largest European city, exerting a powerful cultural pull and dominating economic life in the Mediterranean. Visitors and merchants were especially struck by the beautiful monasteries and churches of the city, in particular the Hagia Sophia, or the Church of Holy Wisdom. According to Russian 14th-century traveler Stephen of Novgorod: "As for Hagia Sophia, the human mind can neither tell it nor make description of it."
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Hippodrome of Constantinople


the city between them. The most severe of these was the Nika riots of 532, in which an estimated 30,000 people were killed and many important buildings, such as the second Hagia Sophia Church, were destroyed. The current (third) Hagia Sophia was built by Justinian following the Nika Revolt. Constantinople never really recovered from its sack during the Fourth Crusade and even though the Byzantine Empire survived until 1453, by that time, the Hippodrome had fallen into ruin, pillaged by the Venetians who likely took the four horses now
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Hagia Sophia


Even though they were made specifically for Hagia Sophia, the columns show variations in size. More than ten thousand people were employed. This new church was contemporaneously recognized as a major work of architecture. The theories of Heron of Alexandria may have been utilized to address the challenges presented by building such an expansive dome over so large a space. The emperor, together with the Patriarch Menas, inaugurated the new basilica on 27 December 537 – 5 years and 10 months after construction start – with much pomp. The mosaics inside the
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Hagia Sophia


the mosque was re-opened with ceremonial pomp on 13 July 1849. In 1935, the first Turkish President and founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, transformed the building into a museum. The carpets were removed and marble floor decorations such as the Omphalion appeared for the first time in centuries, while the white plaster covering many of the mosaics was removed. Nevertheless, the condition of the structure deteriorated, and the World Monuments Fund placed Hagia Sophia on 1996 World Monuments Watch, and again in 1998.
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Hagia Sophia


golden halo, but in 2009 one of them was restored to the original state. The Loggia of the Empress is located in the centre of the upper enclosure, or gallery, of the Hagia Sophia. From there the empress and the court-ladies would watch the proceedings down below. A round green stone marks the spot where the throne of the empress stood. Two huge marble lustration (ritual purification) urns were brought from Pergamon during the reign of Sultan Murad III. From the Hellenistic period, they are carved from
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Hagia Sophia, Trabzon


' the church for some decades. The Diyanet won the case, getting ownership of the building. On 5 July 2013, the former church was partially converted for a while into a mosque according to the local Vakif Direction of Trabzon, which is the owner of the estate. The reconstruction works have already been started. Some frescoes were veiled and the floor covered by a carpet. The mufti of the Turkish province Trabzon said that “the works for opening the Hagia Sophia mosque in the city to practice prayers again are going
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Chariot racing


the reign of Justin I (r. 518–527), who took measures to restore order, when the gangs murdered a citizen in the Hagia Sophia. Riots culminated in the Nika riots of 532 AD during the reign of Justinian, which began when the two main factions united and attempted unsuccessfully to overthrow the emperor. Chariot racing seems to have declined in the course of the seventh century, with the losses the Empire suffered at the hands of the Arabs and the decline of the population and economy. The Blues and Greens, deprived
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History of Roman and Byzantine domes


being the earliest proposed example, but the 6th century architecture of Justinian made domed church architecture standard throughout the Roman east. His Hagia Sophia and Church of the Holy Apostles inspired copies in later centuries. Cruciform churches with domes at their crossings, such as the churches of Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki and St. Nicholas at Myra, were typical of 7th and 8th century architecture and bracing a dome with barrel vaults on four sides became the standard structural system. Domes over windowed drums of cylindrical or polygonal shape were standard after the 9th century
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Greek–Turkish relations


a special program, which included the recitation of the Quran and prayers in Hagia Sofia, to mark the Laylat al-Qadr, the program was broadcast live by state-run television TRT. On June 22, a Greek statement mentioned that Hagia Sophia is a UNESCO world heritage site and should not be any attempt to convert it into a mosque. On June 23 Turkey condemned the Greek statement. In March 2019, Turkish President Erdoğan said that he will change the status of Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque,
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Runic inscriptions in Hagia Sophia


There are at least two runic inscriptions in Hagia Sophia's marble parapets. They may have been engraved by members of the Varangian Guard in Constantinople in the Viking Age. The first runic inscription was discovered in 1964 on a parapet on the top floor of the southern gallery, and the discovery was published by Elisabeth Svärdström in "Runorna i Hagia Sofia", "Fornvännen" 65 (1970), 247-49. The inscription is worn down so nowadays only "-ftan", which is the Norse name "Halfdan"
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Saint Sophia Cathedral, Los Angeles


Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral (in Greek: Ἁγία Σοφία, Hagia Sophia) is a Greek Orthodox church built in 1952, in what was then the Greek section of Central Los Angeles, California. It is located at West 15th Street and South Normandie Avenue in the present day Harvard Heights neighborhood. This Greek Orthodox church is the result of a Hollywood success story. When Charles Skouras and his brothers, Spyros Skouras and George Skouras, were still trying to get ahead in Hollywood, Charles made a vow to God that he
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Archimedes Palimpsest


copy of "On Floating Bodies" in Greek. Archimedes lived in the 3rd century BC and wrote his proofs as letters in Doric Greek addressed to contemporaries, including scholars at the Great Library of Alexandria. These letters were first compiled into a comprehensive text by Isidorus of Miletus, the architect of the Hagia Sophia patriarchal church, sometime around 530 AD in the then Byzantine Greek capital city of Constantinople. A copy of Isidorus' edition of Archimedes was made around 950 AD by an anonymous scribe, again in the Byzantine Empire,
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Hagia Sophia


against the veneration of images, ordering the army to destroy all icons – ushering in the period of Byzantine iconoclasm. At that time, all religious pictures and statues were removed from the Hagia Sophia. After a brief reprieve under Empress Irene (797–802), the iconoclasts made a comeback. The Emperor Theophilus (829–842) had two-winged bronze doors with his monograms installed at the southern entrance of the church. The basilica suffered damage, first in a great fire in 859, and again in an earthquake on 8 January
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Hagia Sophia, Trabzon


to this day. Between 1958 and 1964 the surviving frescoes were uncovered and the church consolidated with the help of experts from the University of Edinburgh and the General Directorate of Foundations; one expert involved in the work estimated no more than one-sixth of the original decorations had survived. All that did survive, however, are thought to be original works done just after its construction, and are considered part of the Byzantine 'Palaiologic Renaissance'. The Hagia Sophia church is an important example of late Byzantine architecture, being characterised
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Church of Saint Simeon Stylites


where his pillar stood. The church was made up of four basilicas that were glowing from the sides of a central octagon where the famous column was enshrined. The church's floor space is over 5,000 square meters almost the same as that of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. However, as opposed to Hagia Sophia, the church of Saint Simeon was situated on top of a barren hill nearly 60 kilometers from the nearest town. Nevertheless, the church was not lonely. It was just a part of the magnificent walled structure that encompasses
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History of Roman and Byzantine domes


type of mosque was modeled after Justinian's Church of Sergius and Bacchus with a dome over an octagon or hexagon contained within a square, such as the Üç Şerefeli Mosque (1437–47). The dome and semi-domes of the Hagia Sophia, in particular, were replicated and refined. A "universal mosque design" based upon this development spread throughout the world. The first Ottoman mosque to use a dome and semi-dome nave vaulting scheme like that of Hagia Sophia was the mosque of Beyazit II. Only two others
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Little Hagia Sophia


consciously repeated in the basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna and served as a model for the famous Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan in the construction of the Rüstem Pasha Mosque, has the shape of an octagon inscribed in an irregular quadrilateral. It is surmounted by a beautiful umbrella dome in sixteen compartments with eight flat sections alternating with eight concave ones, standing on eight polygonal pillars. The narthex lies on the west side, opposed to an antechoir. Many effects in the building were later used in Hagia Sophia: the exedrae expand the central
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Holy Wisdom


the Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church, the exclamation "Sophia!" or in English "Wisdom!" will be proclaimed by the deacon or priest at certain moments, especially before the reading of scripture, to draw the congregation's attention to sacred teaching. There are numerous churches dedicated to Holy Wisdom throughout the Eastern Orthodox world. Their archetype is the main basilica of Constantinople (now a museum), built in the 6th century, in English simply known as the Hagia Sophia. The extant building of the Hagia Sophia
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Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople


bells in churches. For example, in a town a church should not be larger in size than the largest mosque. Some churches were destroyed (e.g. the Church of the Holy Apostles), many were converted into mosques (among them the Hagia Sophia and Chora Church in Constantinople, the Rotunda and Hagios Demetrios in Thessaloniki) or served for other uses (e.g. Hagia Irene in Constantinople, which became an armory for the Janissaries, and the Gül Mosque (Hagia Theodosia or Christ Euergetes), also in Constantinople, which after
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Holy Wisdom


century (made a mosque in 1570). Holy Wisdom became an important concept in Slavic Orthodoxy. Hagia Sophia Church, Nesebar, and possibly Church of St. Sophia, Ohrid, Bulgaria were built still in the 9th century. Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, Saint Sophia's Cathedral, Kiev and Saint Sophia Cathedral in Polotsk date to the 11th century. Saint Sophia Cathedral in Vologda was built in the 16th century. Saint Sophia Church, Moscow was built in the 17th century on the template of Novgorod cathedral. Saint Sophia Cathedral
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Hagia Irene


V, which was during the Iconoclastic years. On the bema arch there is an inscription of Psalm 64 verses 4-5 on the inner sider, and then on the outer side there is an inscription of Amos 6 verse 6. There is evidence of alterations on these inscriptions as well. The inscriptions detail a praise to the church as it is the house of the lord. The verses, especially the Psalm, were used as inspiration for some of the mosaics in Hagia Sophia. Hagia Irene also holds a synthronon.
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Byzantine music


famous Hagia Sophia by Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles. A quarter of Constantinople had been burnt down during a civil war. Justinian had ordered a massacre at the hippodrome, because his imperial antagonists who were affiliated to the former dynasty, had been organised as a chariot team. Thus, he had place for the creation of a huge park with a new cathedral in it, which was larger than any church built before as Hagia Sophia. He needed a kind of mass propaganda to justify the imperial violence against the public
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Iconostasis


Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, though the columnar form of chancel barrier does predate Hagia Sophia. The rood screens or pulpita that most Roman Catholic large churches and cathedrals in many parts of Europe had acquired by late medieval times occupied a similar position between chancel and nave but had a different function. The choir was usually east of the screen. Many survive, often most completely in Scandinavia, and more were built in the Gothic Revival, particularly in Anglican churches in England. In examples in wood painted panels typically only went up to
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