We must begin by explaining the origin of the name. Sophia,
the name of a street dancer, a courtesane who became empress,
has nothing to do with the name of this cathedral, which
is taken from the Greek. Sophia meaning “wisdom"
to which is added the adjective «Saint», to
form the phrase "Divine Wisdom”.
It is said that Constantine built a church on the site
of the present Saint Sophia in 325; surer sources have
it that his son founded a sanctuary there in 360. This
was destroyed by Eire in 404 and Theodosius II had it
rebuilt in 415; but in the course of revolutions which
shook the throne and divided the nation into two warring
factions the Greens and the Blues, the temple was razed
to the ground. It was then that Justinian decided to have
a masterpiece, a work of unparalleled magnificence erected
on this site. On February 29, 532, after a period of 39
days, he set his seal on the first stone of his new sanctuary.
This great work, one of the glories of the world, is the
fruit of the labour of two Anatolian geniuses, the architects
Anthemius of Tralles and Isidor of Miletus. A hundred
master-masons and ten thousand workmen worked under their
supervision. The most precious metals that Asia Minor
could provide were used in the construction.
A beginning was made with the transfer of 8 columns of
red porphyry, originally from Heliopolis in Egypt, which
were' first shipped to Rome and then conveyed to Byzantium;
also marble, ingots of silver and gold, and ivory were
sent from Ephesus, Baalbek and Delphi. All the richest
and most costly materials - blocks of marble from the
Marmara islands, green marble from Euboea and red from
Synada [near Afyon] -were used in the construction. The
yellow marble came from Africa.
has been estimated that the expenses incurred in the course
of construction amounted to 7,500,000 dollars. But if
we take into account the cheapness of labour at that time,
and the wide use of slave labour, it can be seen that
the cost of the building must have amounted to considerably
more than this. Justinian exhausted his treasury and was
obliged to impose new taxes.
The emperor opened the church officially on December 27,
537, He was received by the Patriarch MENAS and in accordance
with usage and custom had to enter the church with his
hand in that of the Patriarch. Overwhelmed by the magnificence
of the cathedral, Justinian forgot about the Patriarch,
and advancing alone uttered the historic words «0h
Solomon, I have surpassed thee!»
Even while not experiencing quite the same sensations
of grandeur as the Emperor, and not possessing in any
case the rank necessary for such a display of them, let
us enter this majestic building and look about us, showing
our admiration nevertheless, but with this difference,
that instead of entering from the south after the fashion
of Justinian, who trod the principal way into the church,
we will enter from the eastern side, where the entrance
is at present situated. Since we cannot step out either
of the estate in life nor the century assigned to us,
this is the only door available for our use. All the more
so since the other one, historians inform us, was reserved
strictly for ceremonial
occasions! The solitary air of the exterior Narthex and
the lofty ceilings seem to be welcoming our approach.
The doorway to the interior Narthex has a mosaic over
it depicting, on a gold background, Jesus and Mary in
the centre, on one side of them Constantine, founder of
the city, and on the other Justinian, founder of the church;
Constantine is offering up the city walls, Justinian the
church of Saint Sophia.
The face of the east wall of the inner Narthex is covered
right up to the ceiling with antique coloured marbles
of great value; the interior of the building, surmounted
by a most imposing dome, is reached by way of nine doorways.
These nine gates give access to the heart of the church;
the fifth of them, and the highest of all, was that used
by the Emperor. Flanking it on either side was a guard-post
where two retainers kept watch. Time, and the long hours
of guard duty, has worn the stone, and the weight of the
armed men who kept watch there has left a hollow place.
The sight of it reminds us how vain are human pretensions
and how fleeting our life on this earth, and awakens sad
and heavy thoughts in us.
Our first sensation on entering is of the great height
and lofty proportions of the building. Saint Sophia, with
its heavy and rather forbidding external aspect, gives
no intimation of the splendour and nobility of its interior.
The length of the interior is 81,8O metres, that of the
inner Narthex 10,50 metres, and the outer Narthex 6,60
metres making a total, when the thickness of the walls
is added, of 101 metres. With its area of 7,570 square
metres, it is fourth in size among the world's cathedrals,
coming after St.Paul's in London St. Peter's in Rome,
and the Milan Duomo. It must be remembered however, that
these chuches were built at a later date: in its century
Saint Sophia was the greatest monument the world had ever
Let us advance now into the middle of the cathedral. The
Great Dome claims our attention immediately; no visitor,
no matter what his religion or race, can fail to be impressed
by its scale and splendour.
After the restoration of the dome in 1847, the calligrapher
Mustafa Izzet Efendi inscribed on it a verse for posterity
in gilded Arabic characters.
superb dome which seems in its remoteness to belong to
the sky rather than the earth, can only be properly viewed
from below by taking as reference points the marks cut
into the stone; these are fixed in relation to a central
point immediately below the apex of the vault, and mark
the extent of the contour. The dome is 55 metres 60 cms
in height; one side measures 30 metres 876 mms. to the
centre, the other 31 metres 877 mms. Thus dome does not
form a perfect circle. In the beginning the circumference
was exactly regular and the dome somewhat more sharply
inclined, but at its restoration, in order to strengthen
it further, the present shape was imposed on it, it should
not be forgotten that Saint Sophia has suffered damage
from several earthquakes and has been frequently repaired.
first great damage occured in 558. In January 369 after
earth tremors lasting 40 days, the dome threatened to
cave in. In 986 the dome seemed increasingly on the point
of collapse, and the church was closed to the faithful
for ten years while expensive repairs were carried out,
at a cost of 10,000 Byzantine gold pieces. After this
it was reopened for worship; but in 1346, vault subsided
again, and lack of funds precented any repair, so that
the church remained deserted. Formerly the church possessed
a great many costly ornaments, doors covered with plated
silver, columns of rare marble ringed with bands of silver,
valuable Ikons framed in gold, massive silver chandeliers,
challices and other sacramental articles, golden candlesticks
hassoks sewn with silver thread, altar clothes of the
same material, all of a dazzling richness. The greatest
destruction of all these rare objects took place during
the pillages of the 4th Crusade, when the Latins devastated
the city. The marble fitments of the interior, the frames
of gold and silver, doors and other parts of the sanctuary
were lifted out bodily, and the precious metals melted
down. Rarely has there been anything to equal this looting
of the Crusaders in the year 1204!
A Russian priest visiting Byzantium in 1350 describes
the appalling evidences of destruction he saw in the plundered
The Castilian Ambassador Don Clavijo relates when he was
passing through the city in 1402, he saw the gates of
the desecrated Basilica lying abandoned on the ground.
In 1453 when the Turks took Constantinople they found
Saint Sophia in this condition. Sultan Fatih the Conqueror
converted the ancient sanctuary into a mosque and was
the first to utter there the ritual prayer of the faithful.
At first the mosque was provided with a wooden minaret,
later replaced by one in stone. The building was reinforced
with buttresses and a mihrab was consecrated in the interior.
Beyazit II, the son of Mehmet II the Conqueror, added
a second minaret to the mosque of Saint Sophia.
Under the reign of Selim II, the conqueror of Cyprus,
some sliding of the foundations was noticed, and certain
buildings in the vicinity had to the demolished, the stones
of which were set to build pyramidal supports for the
walls of the mosque, while steps were taken to preserve
the matchless dome. The work of restoration was undertaken
by the great architect Sinan. This same Sultan had a school
and a mausoleum erected and a garden lay out in the precincts
of St. Sophia.
The Sultans Selim I and Murad III added two further minarets;
in 1717 Ahmet II carried out fundamental repairs on
It was between 1847 and 1849, in the Osmanli Era, that
important restorations were undertaken, presided over
by the Swiss architect Gaspar Fossati, who reinforced
the dome with a framework of iron, and protected the mosaics
from damp by covering them lightly with lime, thus also
observing the due forms prescribed by the moslem religion;
in addition he consolidated the columns.
On the initiative of the Grand Resit Pasa, the organizer
of this important restoration, a sum of 200,000 Turkish
gold liras was devoted to the gigantic task.
An earthquake of 1895 caused some damage to the mosque
which was repaired two years later.
The founder of the Turkish Republic, Ataturk a man of
genius, foremost among statesmen, and profound humanist,
removed from Saint Sophia its religious character by transforming
it into a museum in 1935 thus putting It at the service
of all humanity. From 1926 - university professors of
high repute supervised a fundamental, rational restoration
of Saint Sophia; the dome was once again reinforced, this
time with steel hoops, and the effects of humidity were
removed. In 1931 the American Association of the Preservation
of Byzantine Monuments undertook the cleaning of the mosaics,
and since 1955, thanks to funds granted for this purpose,
Ayasofya has always been kept under inspection and restored
as the need arose.
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