85 Awesome Hagia Sophia Turkey Interesting Fun Facts

(Last Updated On: April 16, 2021)

Hagia Sophia is the national landmark of Turkey, situated in the heart of the capital Istanbul with many interesting facts. It was constructed by the Roman empire because of the basilica in 537 AD and has survived by way of numerous transformations. Around 3.47 million vacationers visited the landmark in 2015, making it probably the most popular vacationer site in complete Turkey.

Hagia Sophia facts

Hagia Sophia Quick Facts

The Blue Mosque and Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul had been designed with the inspiration of Hagia Sophia.
It was enlisted on the earth heritage site by UNESCO in 1985.
Hagia Sophia is a former Christian patriarchal basilica (church), later an imperial mosque, and now a museum.
Over 3 million vacationers go to the landmark each year, making it probably the most visited vacationer site in Turkey.
Hagia Sophia has 40 home windows within the space the place worshipers sit and it’s often known as well-known reflecting mystical light.
Hagia Sophia was initially constructed because of the Greek Orthodox Christian patriarchal Basilica in 537 AD by the Byzantine Roman Empire in the course of the reign of Justinian I.
It remained the world’s largest cathedral for practically a thousand years, till the Seville Cathedral was accomplished in 1520.
It was designed by the Greek geometers Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles.
It was additionally added Four minarets, every 60 meters (200 feet) tall outdoors the church.
After a great earthquake in 989 ruined the dome of Hagia Sophia, the Byzantine officers summoned Trdat the Architect to Byzantium to arrange repairs.
The cause the Hagia Sophia was chosen as one of many seven wonders of the ancient world was due to its quintessential Byzantine architectural type.
It was transformed right into a mosque by Mehmed the Conqueror of the Ottoman empire in 1453. It remained a mosque till 1931 and was opened as a museum in 1935 by the Republic of Turkey.
The constructing was a mosque from 29 May 1453 till 1931. It was then secularized and opened as a museum on 1 February 1935.
Hagia Sophia is the third Church of the Holy Wisdom to have been constructed on the site. The two that had been constructed earlier had been destroyed on account of rioting.
In the museum at this time, there are Islamic and Christian influences and options.
The 15 meters (50 foot) silver iconostasis from the times when Hagia Sohpia was a church is on display within the museum.
The 4 minarets surrounding the principal dome were later added by the Ottoman empire. One minaret was constructed out of red bricks whereas the opposite three had been constructed of white limestone and sandstone.
It incorporates two floorings centered on a large nave that has a great dome ceiling, together with smaller domes, towering above.
Hagia Sophia was the seat of the Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople and a principal setting for Byzantine imperial ceremonies, resembling crowning ceremonies.

20. Origin

Hagia Sophia, Turkish Ayasofya, Latin Sancta Sophia, additionally referred to as Church of the Holy Wisdom or Church of the Divine Wisdom, cathedral constructed at Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) within the sixth century A.D. (532–537) beneath the course of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I.

21. Temple of Artemis

To fortify (and beautify) the inside of the church, columns from the long-abandoned and destroyed Temple of Artemis in Ephesus had been used for the Hagia Sophia. Additional constructing supplies may have come from ancient sites in Baalbeck and Pergamum.

22. A church

The unique construction on the site was a church, nevertheless, it was transformed right into a Roman Catholic cathedral whereas Constantinople was occupied by crusaders in the course of the 4th Crusade. It was turned back into an Eastern Orthodox church in 1261, and some of the well-known mosaics on its inside – the Deësis mosaic – were really commissioned in the identical year to rejoice this!

23. Talisman of the doorways

Who can ignore the myths that encompass the ostentatious doorways of the Hagia Sophia? There are 361 of them, and they’re magnificent in their very own right, however, of explicit curiosity are the 101 which might be bigger than all the remaining, Hagia Sophia facts. They are stated to have a talisman. Why? Because, when they’re counted, it’s stated that at all times one more door appears to seem.

24. The secret in Deesis Mosaic

Deesis Mosaic, which dates back to the 13th century, is assumed to occupy the place of an earlier mosaic beneath it. Located within the Upper South Gallery, some have steered that the determine of Jesus depicted isn’t the actual one. Why?

A scar situated on Jesus’s right forehead seems because of the number 11. Sources imagine that there’s a link between the quantity and Apollon, who was a Pythagoras cult member. The mosaic creators had been Pagans who had been later Christianised by drive, and who, allegedly had supposed to attract Apollon moderately than Jesus.

25. Transformed in a mosque

After the Ottoman invasion in 1481, Sultan Mehmet II declared that the building could be transformed from a church right into a mosque. That means it is really spent more time as a church or cathedral than a mosque to this point in its lifetime! This conversion has occurred throughout the centuries, beginning with fixtures like minarets being put in, and the building of madrasahs throughout the complicated.

26. Dimensions

Its dimensions of 82 meters (270 feet) long and 73 meters (240 feet) extensive, sporting a dome 33 meters (108 feet) in diameter with a crown that rises 55 meters (180 feet) from the ground level is formidable at its time of development.

27. Lost lots of artwork to iconoclasm

The Hagia Sophia museum is wealthy in artworks of each Muslim and Christian variety. One can solely think about how a lot more of Christian paintings there would have been if iconoclasm had not taken place- that is the idea within the significance of the destruction of photographs and monuments for worry of those turning into the middle of reverence moderately than God.

During the iconoclasm interval, many artworks or photographs had been plastered over, destroyed, or altogether eliminated. People would really come to hope and make needs in front of Hagia Sophia’s icons with the idea that they’d come true.

28. Conversion

From the date of its development in 537 till 1453, it served as a Greek Orthodox cathedral and seat of the Patriarch of Constantinople, besides between 1204 and 1261, when it was transformed to a Roman Catholic cathedral beneath the Latin Empire.

29. The “wishing column”

Also referred to as the “sweating column,” the “wishing column,” and the “perspiring column,” the weeping column stands within the northwest portion of the church and is one among 107 columns within the building. The alleged blessing of St. Gregory has led many to rub the column in the hunt for divine therapeutic.

30. Hagia Sophia home windows are well-known

Apart from the Hagia Sophia itself, and its dome, one different excellent function of Hagia Sophia is its forty home windows beneath the massive dome throughout the building. When the solar shines, it casts a light into the cathedral that creates a mystical aura reflecting into the nave.

The well-known home windows, whereas letting light into the constructing additionally would present structural issues or put on and tear, whereas easing the strain of the dome on the pendentives, Hagia Sophia facts.

31. Lustration urns

Two large marble lustration (ritual purification) urns had been introduced from Pergamon in the course of the reign of Sultan Murad III. From the Hellenistic interval, they’re carved from single blocks of marble.

32. Marble Door

The Marble Door contained in the Hagia Sophia is situated within the southern higher enclosure or gallery. It was utilized by the individuals in synods, who entered and left the meeting chamber by way of this door. It is alleged[by whom?] that every facet is symbolic and that one facet represents heaven whereas the opposite represents hell. Its panels are lined with fruits and fish motives. The door opens into an area that was used as a venue for solemn conferences and necessary resolutions of patriarchate officers.

33. ‘Weeping Column’

Hagia Sophia has a column often known as the wishing column, sweating column, or sweating column that’s damp to the contact. It is situated on the northwest portion of the church, and on it, there’s a gap by which people jam their fingers to obtain therapeutic from their illnesses! It is believed that it has the blessing of St. Gregory who appeared close to it, thus offers therapeutic.

A finger that emerges moist from the outlet is believed to be a sign of the achievement of 1’s needs and the supply of therapeutic. Protective bronze plates put over the outlet were no determent to pilgrims who nonetheless discovered a strategy to enter the outlet, Hagia Sophia facts.

34. Destroyed and rebuilt over 8 times

After its destruction in 404, it was rebuilt because of the Church of Theodosius II in 415. Unfortunately, that church was additionally burnt down in a fireplace in 532. Following that, the building was destroyed and rebuilt after a number of earthquakes. The Hagia Sophia is definitely constructed on a fault line, making it further weak to earthquakes and natural disasters! There had been earthquakes in 553, 557, 558, 869, 989, and 1344 that resulted in extreme injury to the building.

Over time it has been restored to its glory, however, the humidity in Istanbul at this time implies that some spots nonetheless endure from water injury. While it is nonetheless charming in its grand magnificence, it was even positioned on the World Monuments Watch in 1996 and 1998 because it wanted pressing repairs, and the most recent renovations had been carried out as not too long ago as 2006. Renovation and restoration work nonetheless takes place at this time, however, you possibly can admire the great thing about the inside with no fear.

35. The Nice Door

The Nice Door is the oldest architectural component discovered within the Hagia Sophia courting back to the 2nd century BC. The decorations are of reliefs of geometric shapes in addition to crops which might be believed to have come from a pagan temple in Tarsus in Cilicia, a part of the Cibyrrhaeot Theme in modern-day Mersin Province in south-eastern Turkey. It was integrated into the construction by Emperor Theophilos in 838 the place it’s positioned within the south exit within the interior narthex.

36. The Logos in Christ

The church was devoted to the Wisdom of God, the Logos, the second particular person of the Holy Trinity, its patronal feast happening on 25 December, the commemoration of the start of the incarnation of the Logos in Christ.

37. Darkish and gory

Being the principal religious building in Istanbul (initially often known as Byzantium after which Constantinople), the Hagia Sophia was at all times affected when the city was overtaken by invaders. It was ransacked and desecrated by crusaders in the course of the Fourth Crusade, after which once more by the Ottomans throughout their invasion of Constantinople in 1481.

Today, centuries later, it stands as a museum and testament to its long history and presence all through the modifications that Istanbul has gone by way of. A morbid attraction inside its grounds is the mausoleum tombs of Ottoman Sultans that lie within the historic buildings next to the museum. After you have paid a go to the Hagia Sophia and its surrounding buildings, here is how one can spend 3 days exploring the remainder of Istanbul too!

38. Holy relics of Jesus

Another spectacular secret that the Hagia Sophia holds is its possession of the cross and nails which might be allegedly those used within the crucifixion of Jesus. They are held in a secret chamber. According to a story, the dear, holy relics had been introduced all the way in which from Jerusalem and hidden throughout the Hagia Sophia – those that imagine that Jesus will return to the world, additionally imagine he’ll first seem throughout the marvel in Istanbul.

39. The addition of Islamic artwork

Following the conquest of the city, the Hagia Sophia was transformed right into a mosque. In order to create an Islamic ambiance inside it, a number of Islamic motifs had been added.

The most necessary one was the verse from the Holy Quran which reads, “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth”.

There are additionally plaques on which the Holy Prophet Muhammad, and the name of 4 caliphs, who performed a vital function in making a sanctuary of Islam in Hagia Sophia, are honored. When the construction was consequently transformed right into a museum, makes an attempt had been made to take away the artwork, however, the authorities gave up on their try after they realized the placards had been larger in size than the Hagia Sophia’s doorways.

40. Upper gallery

The higher gallery, the matroneum, is specified by a horseshoe form that encloses the nave on three sides and is interrupted by the apse. Several mosaics are preserved within the higher gallery, space historically reserved for the Empress and her court docket. The best-preserved mosaics are situated within the southern part of the gallery.

The higher gallery incorporates runic graffiti presumed to be left by members of the Varangian Guard, Hagia Sophia facts.

41. Modernized into a museum

The first President of Turkey Mustafa Kemal Atatürk got here into energy in 1923. He banned quite a few Islamic customs and westernized Turkey. This was precedence for the secularization of the Hagia Sophia, later transformed into a museum.

Before its conversion, Hagia Sophia was Istanbul’s primary mosque. Its conversion was seen as helpful to the Eastern international locations and the world as it will present new data.

Turkey’s Kariye mosque turned museum was contested in court docket. The ruling made was in its favor, because the conversion was declared illegal. This might have set priority for different museums that had been as soon as mosques resembling Hagia Sophia to revert to being mosques.

42. The shape of the Dome

The dome is carried on 4 spherical triangular pendentives, one of the many first large-scale makes use of them. The pendentives are the corners of the sq. base of the dome, which curves upwards into the dome to assist it, restraining the lateral forces of the dome and permitting its weight to circulate downwards. It was the biggest pendentive dome on the earth till the completion of St Peter’s Basilica and has a lot of decrease height than another dome of such a big diameter, Hagia Sophia facts.

43. The diameter of the dome

The great dome on the Hagia Sophia is 32.6 meters (one hundred and 7 feet) in diameter and is simply 0.61 meters (two feet) thick. The primary constructing materials for the Hagia Sophia composed of brick and mortar. The brick mixture was used to make roofs simpler to assemble.

The mixture weighs 2402.77 kilograms per cubic meter (one hundred and fifty pounds per cubic foot), an average weight of masonry development on the time.

Due to the supplies plasticity, it was chosen over the lower stone on account of the truth that the mixture can be utilized over an extended distance. According to Rowland Mainstone, “it is unlikely that the vaulting-shell is anywhere more than one normal brick in thickness”.

44. Weight of the dome

The weight of the dome remained an issue for a lot of the constructing’s existence. The unique cupola collapsed completely after the earthquake of 558; in 563 a brand new dome was constructed by Isidore the youthful, a nephew of Isidore of Miletus.

Unlike the unique, this included 40 ribs and was raised 6.1 meters (20 feet), with a view to decrease the lateral forces on the church partitions. A bigger part of the second dome collapsed as properly, in two episodes, in order that at this time solely two sections of the present dome, within the north and south facet, nonetheless date from the 562 reconstructions. Of the entire dome’s 40 ribs, the surviving north part incorporates eight ribs, whereas the south part contains six ribs.

45. Imperial Door

The Imperial Door is the door that might be used solely by the Emperor in addition to his personal bodyguard and retinue. It is the biggest door within the Hagia Sophia and has been dated to the sixth century. It is about 7 meters long and Byzantine sources say it was made with wood from Noah’s Ark.

46. Wishing column

At the northwest of the building, there’s a column with a gap within the center lined by bronze plates. This column goes by totally different names; the “perspiring” or “sweating column”, the “crying column”, or the “wishing column”, Hagia Sophia facts.

The column is alleged to be damp when touched and has supernatural powers. The legend states that since Gregory the Wonderworker appeared close to the column within the year 1200, it has been moist. It is believed that touching the moisture cures many illnesses.

47. Nothing unique stays now

The spot the place the Hagia Sophia stands initially housed because the Church of Constantius II, constructed over 1500 years ago in 360 AD! It was often known as the ‘Magna Ecclesia’ or ‘Great Church’ because it was larger than all of the church buildings within the city at its time. Unfortunately, this church was burnt down throughout riots in 404, and there are not any stays of this unique construction at this time.

The primary constructing of the Hagia Sophia was inaugurated in 537, after 5 years and 10 months of development. Even back then it was seen as a significant architectural work and concerned supplies from throughout the Byzantine empire! Imperial ceremonies resembling coronations often came about inside its partitions.

48. The massive dome

Famous particularly for its huge dome, it’s thought-about the epitome of Byzantine structure and is alleged to have “modified the history of structure“.

49. Constructed from important materials

Hagia Sophia’s columns had been from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus which is without doubt one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Large stones had been acquired from Egypt whereas black stone was acquired from the Bosphorus. Additionally, green marble and yellow stone had been acquired from Thessaly and Syria respectively. All these supplies from across the Byzantine Empire and past made Hagia Sophia as magnificent as it’s.

The options of the Hagia Sophia as described are splendid, and a visit there would assist respect their individuality in addition to their coming collectively to type the entire. Conversion of the church to a mosque, then the museum ensures that all the pieces are accessible for viewing.

It is feared that an earthquake may carry Hagia Sophia down because it was constructed over a fault line. The Museum might additionally do with some refurbishment because it has been stated that Hagia Sophia is in such a state of disrepair it desperately wants work, Hagia Sophia facts.

50. Tears of the Virgin Mary

A narrative in regards to the Virgin Mary makes up one other necessary part of the Hagia Sofia. It is alleged that one day when she was instructed that her son Jesus had been captured and tortured, she turned overwhelmed by her tears. One of those tears dropped from her cheek and made a gap on the pillar on which she was leaning.

During the development of it, the emperor introduced this pillar to the Hagia Sophia with a view to bless the construction. For this cause, it’s believed that the stone is certainly blessed and when the building was in operation, these eager to make a want would ritually place their finger within the gap that the tear carved, and expressed their needs.

51. Narthex and portals

The Imperial Gate was the main entrance between the exo- and esonarthex. It was reserved solely for the Emperor. The Byzantine mosaic above the portal depicts Christ and an unnamed emperor. A long ramp from the northern part of the outer narthex leads as much as the higher gallery.

52. “Holy Wisdom”

Sophia means “wisdom” in Greek whereas Hagia means “holy or divine”. So, Hagia Sophia means “holy wisdom”. However, the church’s full name in Greek is Ναός τῆς Ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ Σοφίας, Naos tēs Hagias tou Theou Sophias, whose translation to English is “Shrine of the Holy of God”, Hagia Sophia facts.

53. A museum since 1935

Under President Ataturk of the newly secular Turkish republic, the Hagia Sophia was transformed right into a museum for visitors and re-opened in February 1935. To get it prepared for the general public, the plaster and whitewash had been eliminated to showcase the mosaics and unique marble decor.

54. Loggia of the Empress

The loggia of the empress is situated within the center of the gallery of the Hagia Sophia, above the Imperial Door, and instantly opposite the apse. From this matroneum (women’s gallery), the empress and the court-ladies would watch the proceedings down under. A green stone disc of verd vintage marks the spot the place the throne of the empress stood.

55. Reconstruction during Byzantine period

Hagia Sophia is undoubtedly crucial Byzantine (Istanbul) empire buildings, and likewise one of many world’s best monuments. Emperor Justinian dominated for 38 years, throughout which a revolt came about, and the church building was destroyed. The emperor nonetheless ordered and oversaw Hagia Sophia’s development and inaugurated it in 537 CE. He was very happy with this work.

56. The third Church

Hagia Sophia is the third church to have been constructed on the same site. The first church was often known as the Μεγάλη Ἐκκλησία, Megálē Ekklēsíā, that means “Great Church”, and after this church was burned in 404 the second church was ordered by Theodosius II, Hagia Sophia facts.

However, this church additionally shared the identical destiny; it was burned to the ground on account of the Nika Revolt in opposition to Emperor Justinian I. In the wake of the revolt, on the identical site, the Hagia Sophia was constructed beneath the course of Emperor Justinian I between 532 and 537.

57. 5 years, 10 months, and 4 days

While it took practically a century to assemble the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, the Hagia Sophia was inbuilt report time; 5 years, 10 months, and 4 days. Building such a church was stated to take the work of more than 10,000 men.

58. Signature of a Viking: Halvdan

People from Northern Europe had been often known as Vikings a thousand years ago. Known to be ferocious warriors, they desired to discover the world past their shores – they, too, had been visitors of Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia and left their writings and signatures on its marbles and partitions. Ones etched within the ninth century are seen even at this time.

Written within the old Viking language, the interpretation reads: “Halvdan was here.” People who walked previous these writings barely seen them, Hagia Sophia facts.

59. The largest cathedral on the earth

It remained the biggest cathedral on the earth till the development of Medieval Seville Cathedral in 1520. Another reality is that solely Patheon in Rome has barely a larger dome than the dome of Hagia Sophia on the earth.

60. Was designed with a really giant dome

Hagia Sophia was designed with a really giant dome which is alleged to have modified the history of the structure. Because of the forty home windows across the base of the dome, it’s well-known for the paranormal high quality of light that displays all over the place within the inside of the nave, the realm the place worshippers sit.

The distinctive character of the design of Hagia Sophia exhibits the way it is, without doubt, one of the oldest monuments of the ancient structure and a supreme masterpiece of Byzantine structure.

61. Islam and Christianity

It has the final word distinction of two religions collectively. Both Islam and Christianity have their foothold in museums. While the Islamic calligraphic roundels are suspended from the principal dome, the museum additionally has uncovered Christian mosaics as its prime function, Hagia Sophia facts.

62. A declaration

On Saturday, July 16, 1054, as afternoon prayers had been about to start, Cardinal Humbert, legate of Pope Leo IX, strode into the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, right as much as the principal altar, and positioned on it a parchment that declared the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius, to be excommunicated.

He then marched out of the church, shook its mud from his feet, and left the city. Every week later the patriarch solemnly condemned the cardinal. This occasion opened a brand new web page within the history of Christianity because the Great Schism between Catholics and Orthodox started.

63. The most well-known and intense restoration

The most well-known and intense restoration of the Hagia Sophia was ordered by Sultan Abdülmecid. The restoration was accomplished by eight hundred employees between 1847 and 1849. Sultan commissioned Swiss-Italian architect brothers Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati who consolidated the dome and vaults, straightened the columns, and revised the ornament of the outside and the inside of the building.

64. The principal mosque of Istanbul

Hagia Sophia remained the principal mosque of Istanbul for about 500 years till it was transformed right into a museum on 1 February 1935 by the Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founding father of the Turkish Republic, Hagia Sophia facts.

The Turkish Council of Ministers acknowledged that due “to its historical significance, the conversion of the (Hagia Sophia) mosque, a unique architectural monument of art located in Istanbul, into a museum will please the entire Eastern world and its conversion to a museum will cause humanity to gain a new institution of knowledge.”

65. Best surviving examples of Byzantine architecture

Even at the time when it was constructed, the Hagia Sophia was considered an architectural marvel, and plenty of neo-Byzantine church buildings and Ottoman mosques have been modeled on it.

Its richly adorned interiors, with partitions lined in mosaics and towering marble pillars, are a trademark of Byzantine type and grandeur. The sheer size and scale are tough to explain – it is actually one thing you have to see with your individual eyes!

Of course, its well-known dome is what the Hagia Sophia is understood worldwide for. The primary dome is a surprising 55.6 meters above ground level, with a diameter ranging between 31.24-30.86 meters.

Smaller domes and arched openings encompass this primary dome, and you’ll see how this has influenced different neo-Byzantine buildings just like the Blue Mosque or Topkapi Palace. These Three iconic buildings are what each customer to Turkey undoubtedly has to see before they go away!

66. Iconoclasm

Despite the opposition of rich Greeks in addition to the peoples of Italian provinces, iconoclasm was carried out within the Byzantine Empire at intervals. During the eighth and ninth centuries A.D, the interval of iconoclasm led to the elimination of many mosaics and work from the Hagia Sophia.

67. Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles

Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles had been the architectures that Emperor Justinian I commissioned to design the Hagia Sophia. Isidore of Miletus was often known as a physicist and mathematician who taught at the universities of Alexandria after which Constantinople before he was employed to design the Hagia Sophia. Anthemius of Tralles was a famed, mathematician and geometrician.

68. Mosaics had been uncovered

A lot of mosaics had been uncovered within the 1930s by a team from the American Byzantine Institute led by Thomas Whittemore. The team selected to let various easy cross photographs stay lined by plaster, however, uncovered all main mosaics discovered, Hagia Sophia facts.

Due to its long history as each a church and a mosque, a selected problem arises within the restoration process. The Christian iconographic mosaics are being regularly uncovered. However, so as to take action, necessary, historic Islamic artwork must be destroyed. Restorers have tried to keep up a steadiness between each Christian and Islamic culture.

69. Floor

The stone-ground of Hagia Sophia dates from the sixth century. After the first collapse of the vault, the damaged dome was left in situ on the unique Justinianic ground and a brand new ground laid above the rubble when the dome was rebuilt in 558. From the set up of this second Justinianic ground, the ground turned a part of the liturgy, with important places and areas demarcated in numerous methods with totally different colored stones and marbles.

The ground is predominantly of Proconnesian marble, quarried on Proconnesus (Marmara Island) within the Propontis (Sea of Marmara). This was the principle white marble utilized in Constantinople’s monuments. Other elements of the ground had been quarried in Thessaly in Roman Greece: the Thessalian verd antique “marble”. The Thessalian verd vintage bands throughout the nave ground had been usually likened to rivers.

70. Reflection of lights

Hagia Sophia is known for the light that displays all over the place within the inside of the nave, giving the dome the looks of hovering above. This impact was achieved by inserting forty home windows across the base of the unique construction. Moreover, the insertion of the home windows within the dome construction decreased its weight.

71. Sign of the Byzantine Empire

While the Hagia Sophia was being constructed, the supplies used to assemble the church had been sourced from everywhere in the Byzantine Empire. For occasion, the columns had been from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, one of many Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, giant stones from Egypt, black stone from the Bosphorus, yellow stone from Syria, and green marble from Thessaly.

72. Buttresses

Numerous buttresses have been added all through the centuries. The flying buttresses to the west of the building, though thought to have been constructed by the Crusaders upon their go-to Constantinople, are literally constructed in the course of the Byzantine period.

This exhibits that the Romans had prior data of flying buttresses which can be seen in Greece, on the Rotunda of Galerius in Thessaloniki and on the monastery of Hosios Loukas in Boeotia, and in Italy on the octagonal basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. Other buttresses had been constructed in the course of the Ottoman occasions beneath the steering of the architect Sinan. A total of 24 buttresses had been added.

73. Minarets

The minarets had been an Ottoman addition and never a part of the unique church’s Byzantine design. They had been constructed for notification of invites for prayers (adhan) and bulletins. Mehmed had constructed a wood minaret over one of many half domes quickly after Hagia Sophia’s conversion from a cathedral to a mosque. This minaret doesn’t exist at this time, Hagia Sophia facts.

74. An architectural yardstick

The Basilica type and the massive 32-meter dome of the Hagia Sophia construction make it excellent. Its construction is nearly sq. with three aisles separated by columns with galleries above it. Marble piers assist a heavy dome that sits on its top.

Hagia Sophia has home windows that obscure the help when the sun shines making the cover seem like floating.

These and plenty of different architectural marvels have made Hagia Sophia more than ordinary-it design impressed that of different mosques just like the Blue Mosque of Istanbul and the Sultan Ahmed Mosque.

75. Islamic and Christian influences

Hagia Sophia was constructed as a Cathedral and its name means holy knowledge. It was constructed beneath a formally Christian state at a time when residents had been dissatisfied with their authorities and had been rioting, Hagia Sophia facts.

Justinian, the ruler then, managed to quell the riots and had the Hagia Sophia constructed with easy decorations that had been largely photographs of the cross, and later ornate mosaics.

With the end of Justinian’s rule by means of defeat by Mehmed II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Hagia Sophia was transformed into a mosque, and modifications in decorations had been made. Christian decorations had been lined up moderately than destroyed. These had been later unearthed, therefore the present-day Hagia Sophia museum presents each Muslim and Christian influence.

76. The fall of Jerusalem

The fell of Jerusalem by the hands of Ayyubid Sultan Saladin shocked the Western world who determined to take revenge instantly. Jerusalem didn’t fell to the disoriented crusaders however Constantinople did. In 1204, the cathedral was ruthlessly attacked, desecrated, and plundered by the crusaders who ousted the Patriarchy of Constantinople and changed it with a Latin bishop.

77. The rule of the Ottoman Empire

A brand new web page was opened within the Hagia Sophia’s history on 29 May 1453. The city of Constantinople fell by the hands of the Ottoman Empire beneath the rule of Sultan Mehmed II which marked the end of the Byzantine Empire. Sultan instantly referred to as for a restoration of the Hagia Sophia and its conversion right into a mosque.

78. Removal of designs

The alter, bells and sacrificial vessels of the Hagia Sophia had been eliminated whereas Sultan protected the quite a few frescoes and mosaics which had been whitewashed in plaster and lined in Islamic designs and calligraphy.

A Mihrab (prayer area of interest), Minbar (pulpit), and a fountain for ablutions in addition to Four minarets, every 60 meters, had been added to the outside, and a school, kitchen, library, mausoleums, and sultan’s lodge joined the site over the centuries.

79. Mosaics

The unique Byzantine rulers and caretakers of the building adorned the inside with beautiful mosaics and frescos depicting biblical scenes and figures similar to Jesus, the Virgin Mary, saints, apostles, and even Byzantine emperor or empresses. After the Ottomans conquered Constantinople, they lined up the frescos and mosaics with whitewash and plaster as Islam doesn’t enable iconoclastic works venerating depictions of icons and figures.

It was solely in 1930 that excavations and renovations uncovered these mosaics and artifacts. Some of the oldest marble reliefs courting back to the sixth century nonetheless exist at this time and could be seen in an excavation pit next to the museum’s entrance. They depict 12 lambs, representing the 12 apostles of Jesus.

80. A wide range of ornate mosaics

A wide range of ornate mosaics had been added over the centuries by every emperor after Justinian I. They included imperial portraits, photographs of the imperial family, totally different emperors, saints, photographs of Christ, and the Virgin Mary with Jesus as a toddler.

81. Built and rebuilt

The unique church on the site of the Hagia Sophia is alleged to have been constructed by Constantine I in 325 on the foundations of a pagan temple. It was broken in 404 by a fireplace that erupted throughout a riot following the second banishment of St. John Chrysostom, then patriarch of Constantinople. It was rebuilt and enlarged by the Roman emperor Constans I. The restored building was rededicated in 415 by Theodosius II. The church was burned once more within the Nika rebel of January 532.

82. Roman porphyry

The primary construction; the porphyry columns got here from Rome and the marble columns got here from Ephesus. Marble in diverse colors, alabaster, and onyx had been lower, fitted, piered, and veneered to cover partitions and pavements in geometric patterns. It was constructed by the Greek architects, Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus.

83. One of Hagia Sophia’s options is a great dome

Hagia Sophia’s partitions as soon as needed to be reconstructed to assist an enormous dome that sits atop it, as its weight prompted the partitions to lean outward. Its sheer size which is 31.7 meters in diameter and 55.6 meters high from ground level is breathtaking. The pendentives that sit between the arches that assist the dome had been additionally a novel function utilized in development then.

Getting around the dome to remain on top of a square constructing by itself is spectacular, therefore the fascination with the Hagia Sophia.

It is alleged that the massive dome is an emblem of the realm of heaven and its glory. This dome is definitely worth the point out as it’s the most putting component of Hagia Sophia, and the second-largest within the world- pantheon in Rome boasts a barely larger dome

84. The site of two different church buildings

Hagia Sophia is the third development on the spot on which it sits. The different two constructions had been church buildings as properly. The first one, Μεγάλη Ἐκκλησία, Megálē Ekklēsíā, that means “Great Church” was burned in 404.

Theodosius II ordered the erection of a brand new church which was constructed however was additionally razed to the ground throughout a revolt in opposition to Emperor Justinian I. This emperor commissioned architects, Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles, to construct the Hagia Sophia within the wake of the revolt.

The two males had been Mathematician- Physicist, and Mathematician- Geometrician respectively, Hagia Sophia facts.

85. The interior

All inside surfaces are sheathed with polychrome marbles, green and white with purple porphyry and gold mosaics, encrusted upon the brick. This sheathing camouflaged the massive pillars, giving them, at a similar time, a brighter aspect.