The History of Hagia Sophia

Christianity and Islam are religions are two of world’s most widespread religions. Both religions when founded were not accepted by the people of that time and they have faced great resistance. Early Islamic art and early Christian art both are historically important as both are similar in some ways. The most earliest architecture and first such structure from the Muslims is the Dome of the Rock located in Jerusalem. When the Muslims conquered the city of Jerusalem in they needed a place (Mosque) to worship and offer their prayers in congregation. At the same time they also wanted to build a monument that would show the success of Muslims and their religion Islam. Similarly, Christians used to build their

The Hagia Sophia was built in Constantinople in A.D. 532 by the emperor Justinian, who hired the renowned architects Anthemius and Isidorus to build it. It was built over an existing building built by Constantine himself. The Hagia Sophia was a very significant building of its time and one that drew attention and respect. At this time in history the Byzantines, specifically Justinian, wanted to make one message clear, that message being that the emperor of the byzantines empire,

Pantheon located in Rome, Italy is the most well conserved architectural structure of the Roman period. Pantheon, initially a roman sanctuary worked to committed to every one of the divine beings, however in 609AD., it was transformed into a congregation and stays as it. Initially worked by Agrippa around 27BC under Augustus' lead however it was caught fire during 80D, under Emperor Domitian's care then build it again, yet was struck by lightning and burned down again in 110AD. The present Pantheon was worked in 120AD and finished by Emperor Hadrian alongside Apollodorus of Damascus. (Hannah and Magli 2011)

The first and second pantheons were burnt down and the current one has lasted till current day. The whole building stands at a high of 7 m not including the 1.3-meter high base. The base is made out of steps made out of Numidia yellow marble, which shows Rome’s wealth that they could to import such an expensive resource and put it one, the floor. The Pantheon is made up of 2 rooms, the porch and the rotunda that is the main body of the structure. The porch follows a very classical geek style where as the rotunda is more reminiscent of the roman public bathhouses. The rotunda is made of brick and the roman concrete that was then faced with white marble stucco to match the porch in appearance. The dome roof covering the rotunda is also made of roman concrete and then covered with bronze sheets that were removed in 663 CE by Constans 2nd. The Bronze roofing showed the importance of this building since all other buildings in Rome had roofs made of tiles. The measures 33 by 13.6 m and presents the building with a colonnade of 8 Corinthian columns that tower 11.8 m high. The column shafts are made of grey granite and with the pediments and capitals made of white marble. This really shows how Rome cannot only get such rich resources but can also the reach Rome has to get all the different types of stone for this construction. The porch has a faced of Pentalic marble and is decorated with religious

QUINTUS OCTAVIUS exited his litter, having just traversed the winding streets and narrow avenues of the Aventine, and hurried up the steps of the Basilica Julia. He had just concluded some business for his client Lollius Capito, leasing out some empty warehouses to a Sicilian merchant, whilst selling the deed of another to a vintner from Antium, liquidating some of Capito’s vacant properties. It was late afternoon and the Forum was bustling, for it was business as usual here in the great city of Rome; Octavius scarcely arrived at the proposed hour of his appointment for all the pedestrian hubbub and cart traffic afoot. Rome is ever the center of commerce and trade in the Empire, he thought wryly. Alexandria is but a small-time metropolis compared to our fabulous Eternal City!

The Hagia Sophia was one of the greatest Orthodox churches built by Justinian. Alexius IV in other words destroys the empire and lowers religious values. The empire and the emperor must be so vulnerable and powerless to have to burn religious icons in order to pay enemies. In essence, the melting of religious icons demonstrates the emperor’s weakness to sustain society. The turning against religious values made the citizens of the Byzantine Empire revolt, causing more internal conflict, which allows the Turks to devise ways to conquer the "holy lands" (Doc5.) Jonathon’s Phillips secondary source includes a primary a source where the tone is miserable and the person who is watching this empire crumble is in horror and complete sadness. This document shows Alexius IV has come to his last resort and began to destroy his one unifying element in his society. Alexius IV had to choose religion or the protection of his empire, and as most emperors would, he chose to protect society rather than preserving religion. The excerpt from The Letter of Alexius, the reader can clearly see the vulnerability of the

is spectacular. This structure requires a lot of work to maintain, now it’s a prime tourist spot.

The Pantheon is an iconic part of architecture, particularly in the mediterranean. Constructed in Imperial Rome, the Pantheon was an incredible piece that forever influenced the basics of architecture. A similar piece, contemporary to the Pantheon, would be the Dome of the Rock. Found in Jerusalem, the Umayyad caliph built the shrine in the seventh century to serve a function as an Islamic shrine. Being the oldest extant Islamic monument known to man, the Dome of the Rock is sacred to both the Muslim and jewish religions.While being in completely different cultures, the Pantheon and the Dome of the Rock share numerous similarities varying from their functionality to the characteristic style of the domes.

the most historical mosques, Hagia Sophia and the Dome of the Rock, are built for different

The lower level and the second level are divided by the cornis in the ratio of a square root of 2 to 1. Exterior walls are divided into two zones by the cornis but no correspondence with the height of the interior cornis. The hemispherical dome has the skylight oculus of 8.9m in diameter. The second level is the re-design in 1747, which consists of a row of blind windows alternating with square designs. The real columns and pilasters of lower level are repeated again on the upper walls as graphic images. This kind of design technique, the repeat and the superimpose are frequently used in high Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque and of course in modern age. Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia was built by Emperor Constantius, son of Emperor Constantinos I, and was opened for services in 360 AD. Although very little is known about this church, it is assumed that it was a basilica-type structure with a rectangular floor plan, circular apse and timbered roof. It was similar to St. Studios, a basilica in Istanbul, the ruins of which still exist. Ancient sources emphasize that the eastern wall was circular. Constantius donated gold and silver as well as religious objects to his church, but these were vandalized by Arians during the Council of 381 AD. Hagia Sophia was first named "Megale Ekklesia" (The Great Church) as it was the largest church in Constantinople. The historian Socrates indicated that the church was named Sophia during the reign of Emperor

One of these achievements is the Hagia Sophia; a piece of architectural genius. The Hagia Sophia was a

Next stop on our map was the Metropolitan Cathedral. Which is in fact, the largest cathedral in the Americas. Since the building was built on a slant angle if feels like I am walking downhill. From the inside, the buildings architecture was gray-like marble pillars surrounded by golden statues of angels and saints. Also, the church had many historic paintings. Throughout the cathedral, on the side walls were many exhibits on holy saints. Many tourist go and visit these saints to give a prayer or ask for their needs. I personally saw one of the saint's remains which kind of freaked me out. Though it was very educational learning about the Cathedral’s history.

The Early Classical Greek Temple of Hera II from Paestum, Italy, built circa 460 BCE, has influenced many works, such as the Carolingian Palatine Chapel built by Odo of Metz in Aachen, Germany from 792-805 BCE under command of the patron, Charlemagne. The Second Temple of Hera is one of the most studied Greek temples since it is in such good condition and has so much to offer historians. The Palatine Chapel, highly inspired by ancient Greek architectural design, was closely supervised by Charlemagne as his personal project, and built by Odo of Metz. The Temple of Hera II and the Palatine Chapel are similar due to the influence ancient Greek works had on later European art, such as the Carolingian period. Art from these periods influenced the important aspects of art seen today.

Il Pantheon (Pantheon) “pan” means all, “theon” means God. It is a preserved intact Roman Empire building, located in the centre of Rome, Italy. It was built in 27-25 BC by Marcus Agrippa, and Emperor Hadrian rebuilt it in 125 AD.

Because Sinan worked on the Hagia Sophia he became intimately familiar with its form and structure so its not surprising that it had an influence on much of his work. Of all his buildings,conceptually the Suleymaniye is probably the most similar to the Hagia Sophia with the basic concept of the central domed space made larger with attached semidomed spaces which in turn have smaller spaces attached topped by smaller domes. Because the dome of the Hagia Sophia was considered to be a great feat for the Christians Sinan designed the dome of the Suleymaniye to send the message that not only were Muslims just as capable but, with an even larger and higher dome, that they were superior.