aug 10, 533 - Hagia Sophia
Description:
Constantinople, 532-537 (five years!)
Justinian set out to rebuild Hagia Sophia after it was destroyed in the Nika riots in 532. He commissioned the architects Isidore and Anthemius to design and execute the project. The massive structure of the church was unprecedented, and the problem of supporting the massive dome which even now appears to float above the naos proved difficult. Isidore and Anthemius used pendentives, support pieces in the shape of inverted triangles, the translate the thrust of the dome's weight onto four large piers. The distribution of windows around the base of the dome and on the other other half-domes which support it fills the space with a remarkable light. This light was magnified by the gold surfaces of the ceiling. Few figural mosaics were used in the church's decoration, perhaps because of fears of iconoclasm or to simplify construction. Paul the Silentiary wrote and delivered an ekphrastic poem about the church to commemorate its rededication after the dome was rebuilt in 563.
relevant terms: exedrae, opus sectile
Added to timeline:
Early Christian and Byzantine Art
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