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Byzantine Architecture
Byzantine Architecture
D):-
(Hagia Sophia = " Divine Wisdom")
• The Hagia Sophia, whose name means “holy
wisdom,” is a domed monument originally
built as a cathedral in Constantinople (now
Istanbul, Turkey) in the sixth century A.D.
The architects were Anthemius of Tralles and
Isodorus of Miletus.
• It contains two floors centered on a giant
nave that has a great dome ceiling, along with
smaller domes, towering above.
• “Hagia Sophia’s dimensions are formidable The area thus formed is a great oval-ended
for any structure not built of steel,” nave 265 feet by 107 feet.
• “In plan it is about 270 feet [82 meters] long • Outside this central area are aisles over 50
and 240 feet [73 meters] wide. The dome is feet wide, in two stories, north and south, the
108 feet [33 meters] in diameter bounded upper story being for women. These aisles
by four massive piers, 25 feet square and its bring the main building approximately to a
crown rises some 180 feet [55 meters] above square which, excluding the apse and narthex,
the pavement.” measures 250 feet by237 feet.
• East and west are great semicircular • In its 1,400 year life-span it has served as a
spaces,crowned with semi-domes, and out of cathedral, mosque and now a museum. When
these are formed smaller exedrae, in their turn it was first constructed, Constantinople was
covered with semi-domes. the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
• The narthex, to the west of the main building, was set apart for catechumens and
penitents, and forms a grand apartment over 200 feet long by 30 feet wide ; it is in
two stories, the upper forming a gallery to the church. Further west is the outer
narthex and atrium, with marble columns and brick pillars.
• To the north and south, forming continuations of the four great piers already
mentioned, are massive buttresses, 25 feet wide by 70 feet long, pierced with double
arches on the ground and upper story. These piers take the thrust of the main arches
and dome on the two sides where there are no semi-domes.
• The domical method of construction governs the plan, which is subservient to it. The
square central space is crowned with a dome, 1 80 feet above the pavement, but in itself
only 47 feet in height above its base (i.e., less than a semi-dome).
• The two semi-domes, east and west, abut against the great arches which support the
central dome and act as buttresses to it on the east and west sides. The smaller exedrae are
also covered with semi-domes, as has been stated. The pendentives carrying the central
dome have a projection of 25 feet and a height of over 60 feet.
LONGITUDINAL SECTION:-
• The great piers supporting the dome are of stones, the rest of the building being of
brickwork.
• The walls and piers are lined with beautifully-colored marbles (Phrygian white, Laconian
green, Lybian blue, Celtic black, white marble with black veins from the Bosphorus, and
Thessalian marble), in varied patterns, fixed by means of metal cramps.
• The floors are laid with colored mosaics of various patterns, and the vaults and domes are
enriched with glass mosaics of the apostles, angels, and saints on a glittering golden ground.
• The columns of many-colored marbles are used constructively to support the galleries
which rest on a variety of groined vaults. Moulded bronze rings encircle the column shafts at
their junction with the capitals and bases, and elsewhere.
Exedrae
Interior