Hagia Sophia

     Hagia Sophia

         Hagia Sophia is one of the greatest architectural wonders in the world, its located in Istanbul, Turkey and it stands till today with an age of approximately 1480 years old. It is also called The Church of the Holy Wisdom or The Church of the Divine Wisdom. In addition, Hagia Sophia is considered as one of the eight wonders of the world, and occupies a place in the history of art and architecture. The building's interior contains two floors and has a high great dome, along with smaller domes, towering above. Anthemius of Tralles and Isidoros Miletus were the architects who built Hagia Sophia during the reign of Justinian the Great.  It was considered as the largest of 25 new cathedrals that were built during his rule. The purpose of building The Hagia Sophia is to replace an earlier church. In addition to that, the time that was hagia Sophia built is 532 AD. It shows both Roman and Eastern influences through the course of its history. Moreover,  hagia Sophia divided to two different designs which show two different symbolized, the outside design  is simple and it  symbolize earthly life, while  the interior design  is decorated and it symbolize the spiritual universe. Furthermore, it is built in an incredibly short time of six years, and it is known to be one of the rare works of such a size and age that has survived till this day. 

         Anthemius and Isidorus Miletus found appropriate materials and new building methods which helped result in the building of Hagia Sophia. They wrestled with time, and their workforce consisted of 10,000 Byzantinians in order to create this great wonder. As a result, the temple was built in under six years while it was still under the rule of Justinian. There were several materials that were used in building Hagia Sophia. It contained stones and bricks set in mortar, these stones, which were used to build the church and the marble columns, had come from Egypt, Baalbek, Athens and Rome, and the total cost approximates upto 360 million gold francs. When The Hagia Sophia was being built, the brick arches and their mortar between the bricks were built thick and twisting due to their excess weight. Later at some point in time, The Hagia Sophia was hit by an earthquake in Istanbul which resulted in 557 wounded people due to the eastern arch of the building and a small part of the huge dome collapsing. At the gate entrance towards the Hagia Sophia, the decorations were created as a tribute to the Emperor. Its walls were covered with marble of various kinds and colors, and the ceilings were decorated with wonderful and breathtaking works of art of scenic views. Although most of the landscape portrayed in these painting are covered in modern Turkish layers of plaster, geometric motifs, and Arabic fonts, they unfortunately fell down and overtime eroded as many of these layers were made out of Gypsum.

        Over the course of history, The Hagia Sophia had become a jewel of its own kind. Its area measures 7570 m², it is 31, 24 mt diameters and is 55, 6 mt high. Because of the several repairs and constructions in time, the dome lost its circular shape and the diameter became 31,24 mt to 30,86 mt. (Hagia Sophia. (2013, January 1). Hagia Sophia. Retrieved, 2013) . The wonderous church continued to be used as the center of Christian faith until the entry of the Islamic religion in 1453, it was then that the confiscation of Constantinople had occured. In 1453, The church had undergone through a conversion into becoming a mosque by Sultan Moh’d Alfatteh. After a long period of time, the Ottoman Empire had all but collapsed, and the establishment of the modern Turkish state was been created by Kemal in Ataturk in 1923. During that phase in time, the revolutionary Kemal had issued a decision in 1935 to later on convert this mosque into a museum, and till this day it stands as a wondrous landmark that tourists from all around the world are attracted to. As a result, it has become the most prominent beacon of Turkey, even though it had lost its religious natures, which had lasted for four centuries.

 

References

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