The Hagia Sophia, located in Constantinople

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

The Hagia Sophia, which many call the peak of Byzantine architecture, for many centuries set the direction for the development of architecture in many states of Eastern and Western Europe, as well as the Middle East. In the Christian religion, it can perhaps be called one of the most monumental structures.

Many Orthodox churches were built in Constantinople in honor of the Wisdom of God, but Hagia Sophia is the largest and most famous of them.

History names two names of the authors of this work of art: Isidore of Miletus and Anfimy of Trall. These are Asians, with whom almost ten thousand workers worked.

In 324, Constantine the Great founded the city of Constantinople in his honor, which became the new capital of his empire. And two years later, he gave the order to build the Church of Hagia Sophia, which in Constantinople became the first monument of Byzantine architecture. Of course, first of all, he had to personify the greatness of the emperor, so gold, marble, silver were brought here from all over,ivory, precious stones. Everything that could be useful for the new cathedral was taken out of the surrounding ancient temples.

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belt materials: lime made with barley water, cement with the addition of oil. However, his luxury was in the use of precious stones - topazes, sapphires, rubies. Even the floors were made of jasper and porphyry. The chroniclers of those times called the temple "a most wonderful sight, soaring up to the sky, full of sunlight as if the light radiated from within."

The most majestic in the Hagia Sophia is its dome with a diameter of 32 meters. For the first time during construction, the dome was made with triangular vaults: it is supported by four pillars, while it itself is formed from forty arches with windows. The sun's rays, falling into them, create the illusion that the dome is floating in the air.

At the beginning of the 13th century, the Church of Hagia Sophia suffered greatly from the crusaders: part of its we alth was taken to Europe. Nothing is known about the fate of the golden altar that was removed from the sanctuary.

In the 15th century, after the capture of the city by the Turks, the cathedral, at the behest of Mahmed Fatih, was turned into a mosque. And since, according to Muslim laws, animals and people cannot be depicted on frescoes, all its walls were barbarously smeared with lime, a crescent was installed instead of a cross, and four minarets were completed. Inside, the temple of Hagia Sophia, now called Hagia Sophia, was supplemented with tombs and a luxurious Sultan's bed, and the name of the prophet was displayed in gold on the shields. Muhammad and the first Caliphs.

Miraculously, a mosaic with figures of Mary with a baby has been preserved above the entrance,

Constantine and Justinian.

Hagia Sophia has one attraction: inside there is a column, which is called sweating. According to legend, all sore spots in a person are immediately cured if they are attached to it.

Besides, the temple has a mystery: in one of its niches on the right side, noise is constantly heard. The legend says that about a thousand believers were hiding from the Turks in the church, and when the invaders burst inside, the priest read a prayer. When the Janissaries raised their swords over the priest, the wall of the niche suddenly opened and pulled him inside. They say that the noise is the sound of the prayer of the same priest who is waiting for the time when, finally, the Hagia Sophia will become Christian again in order to go out and continue the service.