It served as a center of religious, political, and artistic life for the Byzantine world and has provided us with many useful scholarly insights into the period. It was also an important site of Muslim worship after Sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople in 1453 and designated the structure a mosque.
What is so special about Hagia Sophia?
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.
Why is the Hagia Sophia an architectural masterpiece?
Hagia Sophia is both one of Istanbul’s most prominent symbols and one of the most important structures in all of world architecture. Its unique character as a symbol of taste and ostentation makes it, above all, an imperial masterpiece. At the time it was built, it had no equal; no other building resembling it.
What buildings influenced the Hagia Sophia?
The Byzantine architecture of the Hagia Sophia served as inspiration for many other religious buildings including the Hagia Sophia, Thessaloniki, Panagia Ekatontapiliani, the Şehzade Mosque , the Süleymaniye Mosque, the Rüstem Pasha Mosque and the Kılıç Ali Pasha Complex.
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.
Is Hagia Sophia an architectural marvel?
Turkey’s Hagia Sophia, which has been in the news recently, is an architectural marvel and one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. ... It remained the world’s largest cathedral for 1,000 years until the cathedral in Seville, Spain, was completed in 1520.
Who invented the 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.
Who were the principal patrons responsible for building Hagia Sophia?
Byzantine Emperor Constantius commissioned construction of the first Hagia Sophia in 360 A.D. At the time of the first church’s construction, Istanbul was known as Constantinople, taking its name from Constantius’ father, Constantine I, the first ruler of the Byzantine Empire.
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.
What was the Justinian’s code and what did it do?
Code of Justinian, Latin Codex Justinianus, formally Corpus Juris Civilis (“Body of Civil Law”), collections of laws and legal interpretations developed under the sponsorship of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I from 529 to 565 ce. Strictly speaking, the works did not constitute a new legal code.
What does Sophia mean in Greek?
History and Etymology for Sophia
Latin, from Greek, from sophos skilled, clever, wise + -ia -y .
How is the Hagia Sophia used today?
Ever since the reversion of Hagia Sophia back into a mosque , the Muslim call to prayer has been resounding from its minarets. 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.
What does the word Justinian mean?
Justinianadjective. Of or pertaining to , Emperor of the Byzantine or East Roman Empire from 527 to 565.
