| Material Ashlar, Roman brick | Length 82 m (269 ft) | Width 73 m (240 ft) | Height 55 m (180 ft) | UNESCO World Heritage Site |
|---|
What materials were used in Hagia Sophia decorations?
In Hagia Sophia, marble elements were used for construction elements but also for decorative purposes. The marble columns are important pieces of the decoration, and many of them were brought from distant areas. There are also two large round jars of marble placed on each side of the entrance to the central area.
What materials did Hagia Sophia use?
| Material Ashlar, Roman brick | Length 82 m (269 ft) | Width 73 m (240 ft) | Height 55 m (180 ft) | UNESCO World Heritage Site |
|---|
How did they build Hagia Sophia?
He built four massive columns at the corner of each square. On top of the columns, he built four arches. He then filled the spaces between the arches with masonry to create curved triangular shapes called pendentives. The pendentives and the tops of the arches combine to form a strong base for the dome.
What architectural elements did the architects use to create Hagia Sophia?
The Hagia Sophia’s Design
It combined the traditional design elements of an Orthodox basilica with a large, domed roof, and a semi-domed altar with two narthex (or “porches”). The dome’s supporting arches were covered with mosaics of six winged angels called hexapterygon.
Who invented Pendentive?
The Romans were the first to experiment with pendentive domes in the 2nd-3rd century AD. They saw the supporting of a dome over an enclosed square or polygonal space as a particular architectural challenge.
What is the meaning of Aya Sophia?
Image credit: Tatiana Popova Shutterstock) The Hagia Sophia, whose name means “holy wisdom ,” is a domed monument originally built as a cathedral in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) in the sixth century A.D.
What is deesis mosaic?
The Deësis mosaic in Hagia Sophia
The monumental Deësis mosaic depicts Christ flanked by the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist approximately two and a half times larger than life . ... This type of image is referred to as a deësis (δέησις), which means “entreaty,” suggesting an act of asking, pleading, begging.
What makes Hagia Sophia unique?
It is one of the most important Byzantine structures in the world. ... Hagia Sophia combines a longitudinal basilica and a centralised building in a unique Byzantine way—with a huge 32-metre main dome supported on pendentives (triangular segment of a spherical surface) and two semi-domes.
Is Hagia Sophia the Blue Mosque?
Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Turkish: Sultan Ahmet Camii), also known as the Blue Mosque, is an Ottoman-era historical imperial mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. ... It sits next to the Hagia Sophia , the principal mosque of Istanbul until the Blue Mosque’s construction and another popular tourist site.
What is the new name of Constantinople?
The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne formally established the Republic of Turkey, which moved its capital to Ankara. Old Constantinople, long known informally as Istanbul , officially adopted the name in 1930.
What is the square footage of Hagia Sophia?
With 200,000 square feet of floor space, Hagia Sophia’s largest dome is 182 feet high (about the height of the U.S. Capitol building), 102 feet in diameter, and rests on an arcade of 40 arched windows.
Is the Hagia Sophia a church?
Originally built as a Christian Orthodox church and serving that purpose for centuries, Hagia Sophia was transformed into a mosque by the Ottomans upon their conquest of Constantinople in 1453. In 1934, it was declared a museum by the secularist Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
