Aghia Sophia 532 - 537 - History of Islamic Architecture (sitios de interés)
Descripción del sitio
This marker is part of an extended History of Islamic Architecture
Constantinople-Istanbul Aghia Sofia Built by Emperor Justinian I Present building: 532-537
Photo from Wikipeda, Hagia Sofia
Cross section of the building
Floor Plan: from Wikipedia
Looking at the plan of the Aghia Sophia, it is immediate evident that this is not a cruciform church, but a basilica with a centralized plan, which evolved from rectangular Roman architectural forms. Only the marriage between the dome and the rectangular base goes back to eastern examples (see e.g., Ktesiphon). The central floor measures an immense 220 feet by 250 feet and the four arches around the nave are 70 feet high. Everything about the various elements is designed - contrary to later Islamic practice, which conceals the "heaven" from the viewer by interspersing a "ceiling" of lamps - to draw the eye higher and higher, into the dome and, presumably, heaven itself. Only Westerners look at the domes of mosques - and are occasionally reminded by the keeper that this is not "done".
It is virtually impossible to photograph the enterior without a specialized camera . This photograph - the only one I could find - is from 1890 before the mosque was converted into a museum (Harvard Archives):