What is the significance of the Hagia Sophia?
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.
Why is Hagia Sophia considered the symbol of Byzantium?
A symbol of Byzantium The great church of the Byzantine capital Constantinople (Istanbul) took its current structural form under the direction of the Emperor Justinian I. Hagia Sophia is the symbol of Byzantium in the same way that the Parthenon embodies Classical Greece or the Eiffel Tower typifies Paris.
What makes Hagia Sophia unique?
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.
How did the Hagia Sophia impact the world?
The building itself served as a kind of link between cultures. It was the symbol of the Roman political tradition. Ottoman sultans claimed to be not just sultans but also Caesar – a Roman emperor – and Hagia Sophia symbolized this Roman-Ottoman universal sovereignty.
What type of plan is the Hagia Sophia?
Built in 532-537, the Hagia Sophia was originally built as a church after the church that had stood there previously was destroyed by rioting. The plan of the church is a hybrid between a central plan and a basilica.
What were the features of Constantinople?
Constantinople is almost surrounded by water, except on its side facing Europe where walls were built. The city was built on a promontory projecting into the Bosphorus (Bosporus), which is the strait between the Sea of Marmara (Propontis) and the Black Sea (Pontus Euxinus).
What was the main language of the Byzantine Empire?
Though Byzantium was ruled by Roman law and Roman political institutions, and its official language was Latin, Greek was also widely spoken, and students received education in Greek history, literature and culture.
What style is the Hagia Sophia?
Byzantine architecture
Hagia Sophia/Architectural styles
What are the features of Constantinople?
Who built Aya Sophia?
Isidore of Miletus
Anthemius of Tralles
Hagia Sophia/Architects
What materials make Hagia Sophia stand up?
Hagia Sophia is a brick building basically, only the foundations and supports that make the eight initial buttresses were built using large blocks of limestone.
Can you mention the four features of Constantinople?
Surrounded by water, it was easily accessible to other parts of the Roman Empire via the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Danube River, and Dnieper River. Constantinople remained a major political and cultural center during the reign of Justinian, becoming the first great Christian city.
