Foreword Hagia Sophia is a great architectural beauty and an important monument both for Byzantine and for Ottoman Empires. Hagia Sophia also known as Ayasofya, Cami-i Kebir, or Sancta Sophia. Hagia Sophia is located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is at the European part of the city in Sultanahmet area (old town), nearby Topkapi palace in Istanbul. Hagia Sophia was choosen a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1985. History The Hagia Sophia was built in the remarkably short time of about six years, being completed in 537 AD. To build his cathedral, Justinian turned to two men named Anthemius and Isidore the Elder. The original church on the site of the Hagia Sophia is said to have been built by Constantine I in 325. The structure now standing is essentially the 6th-century edifice558 (restored 562) and there were two further partial coll, although an earthquake caused a partial collapse of the dome in apses, after which it was rebuilt to a smaller scale and the whole church reinforced from the outside. History After the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed II had it repurposed as a mosque, with the addition of minarets, a great chandelier, a mihrab, a minbar, and disks bearing Islamic calligraphy. The Alter, the bells, sacrificial vessels and iconostasis were all removed when the church was converted into a mosque. Kemal Atatrk secularized the building in 1934, and in 1935 it was made into a museum. Architecture Justinians Hagia Sophia is the one that stands today. It is an architectural intelligence and the first masterpiece in Byzantine architecture. It has been the largest cathedral for 1000 years until the Seville Cathedral was built. The church has a rectangular shape, and the square vast square nave measuring 31m (102ft) is covered with a central dome that is carried on four pendentives. Architecture Excluding the two narthexes and the large atrium, the basilica measures 70 x 75 m (229 x 245 ft) . The atrium measures 48 x 32 m (157 x 106 ft) and the total length of the construction measures 135 m (442 ft). Hagia Sophia dome sits at the centre of the church. It is between two half domes which together equals to the diameters of the dome. The dome is built by brick and mortar, it is 31, 24 mt (102 ft 6 in) diameters and is 55, 6 mt (182 ft 5 in) high. Architecture Hagia Sophia Dome is carried on four pendentives and these pendentives enable its transition into the square shape of its piers below. These pendentives distribute the weight of the dome to the walls under it.
Outside the church, four minarets were added and each
are more than 200 feet (60 meters) tall. Kleiner, 2010. Sources http://www.hagiasophia.com/ http://www.livescience.com/27574-hagia-sophia.html http://www.britannica.com/topic/Hagia-Sophia Thank You