HAGIA SOPHIA
+90 212 522 17 50 info@hagiasophia.com
Sultan Ahmet, Hagia Sophia Square No: 1, 34122 Fatih Istanbul, Turkey
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History & About
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Dome of Hagia Sophia
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160 years old secret
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Architecture
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Mosaic
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History & About ‘Great Church’ implies it was larger Constantinopolitan churches.
Constantius II (r. 337–361), by the Arian bishop Eudoxius of Antioch.
The nearby Hagia Irene (“Holy Peace”) church was completed earlier and served as cathedral until the Great Church was completed. Besides Hagia Irene, there is no record of any major churches in the city-centre before the late 4th century.
The first church on the site was known as the Magna Ecclesia because of its larger dimzensions in comparison to the contemporary. According to the Chronicon Paschale, the church was consecrated on 15 February 360
Rowland Mainstone argued the 4thcentury church was not yet known as Hagia Sophia. Though its name as the the only other major churches. The 4th century were the Church of St Mocius, which lay outside the Constantinian walls and was perhaps attached to a cemetery, and the Church of the Holy Apostles.
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During the reign of the emperor Constantius II (r. 337–361), by the Arian bishop Eudoxius of Antioch. It was built next to the area where the Great Palace was being developed. According to the 5th-century ecclesiastical historian Socrates of Constantinople, “Constructed the Great Church alongside that called Irene which because it was too small, the emperor’s father [Constantine] had enlarged and beautified”.
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CATHEDRAL MUSEUM MOSQUE ISTANBUL 5
DOME OF HAGIA SOHPHIA The pendentives are the corners of the square base of the dome, which curve upwards into the dome to support it, restraining the lateral forces of the dome and allowing its weight to flow downwards. It was the largest pendentive dome in the world until the completion of St Peter’s Basilica, and has a much lower height than any other dome of such a large diameter.
The mystical city Istanbul hosted many civilizations since centuries, of which Byzantium and Ottoman Empires were both the most famous ones. The city today carries the characteristics of these two different cultures and surely Hagia Sophia is a perfect synthesis where one can observe both Ottoman and Byzantium effects under one great dome.
Once a church, later a mosque, and now a museum at the Turkish Republic, Hagia Sophia has always been the precious of its time.. 6
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DOME MOSAIC The dome was decorated with four nonidentical figures of the six-winged angels which protect the Throne of God; it is uncertain whether they are seraphim or cherubim. The mosaics survive in the eastern part of the dome, but since the ones on the western side were damaged during the Byzantine period, they have been renewed as frescoes. During the Ottoman period each seraph’s (or cherub’s) face was covered with metallic lids in the shape of stars, but these were removed to reveal the faces during renovations in 2009
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160 YEARS OLD SECRET
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After 160 years of darkness, Seraphim’s face is in daylight. There are 4 seraphim mosaics ( God’s protector angels with 6 wings) on the 4 pendentives that carry the dome. The 4 seraphims’ faces were covered with 6-7 layers of plaster for almost 160 years during the sovereignty of Ottomans. The last person who saw the faces .
Seraphims was the Swiss architect Gaspare Fossati while he was holding the restoration at Hagia Sophia in 1840s. With a 10 day hard work, experts managed to take off the 7 layers of plasters and reveal the face of one of the seraphims.
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Seraphims was the Swiss architect Gaspare Fossati while he was holding the restoration at Hagia Sophia in 1840s. With a 10 day hard work, experts managed to take off the 7 layers of plasters and reveal the face of one of the seraphims. After 160 years of darkness, Seraphim’s face is in daylight. There are 4 seraphim mosaics ( God’s protector angels with 6 wings) on the 4 pendentives that carry the dome. The 4 seraphims’ faces were covered with 6-7 layers of plaster for almost 160 years during overeignty of Ottomans. The last person who saw the faces .
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Archaeologists suggest that Baalbek had its beginnings as a stopping place for traders and their caravans between Palmyra and Damascus in Syria and the Levantine coastal cities.
When Alexander the Great marched through the Beqa’a Valley on the way to Damascus in 334 BC, aravans between Palmyra and Damascus in Syria and the Levantine coastal cities.
Excavations indicate the site was occupied as early as 2300 BC by the Phoenicians, a sea-faring people known in the Bible as the Canaanites who worshipped the god Baal.
Excavations indicate the site was occupied as early as 2300 BC by the Phoenicians, a sea-faring people known in the Bible as the Canaanites who worshipped the god Baal.
When Alexander the Great marched through the Beqa’a Valley on the way to Damascus in 334 BC, Baalbek was known as Heliopolis, the “city of the sun,” the name given to this important religious center by the Ptolemies of Egypt, the rules time.
When Alexander the Great marched through the Beqa Valley on the way to Damascus in 334 BC, Baalbek was known as Heliopolis,city of the sun,” the name given to this important religious center by the Ptolemies of Egypt, the rulers of the time.
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ARCHITECTURE Hagia Sophia is one of the greatest surviving examples of Byzantine architecture.[4] Its interior is decorated with mosaics and marble pillars and coverings of great artistic value. The temple itself was so richly and artistically decorated that according to much later legend, Justinian proclaimed. “Solomon, I have outdone thee!� (Byzantine Greek: Justinian himself had overseen the completion of the greatest cathedral ever built up to that time, and it was to remain the largest cathedral for 1,000 years up until the completion.
The theories of Hero of Alexandria, a Hellenistic mathematician of the 1st century AD, may have been utilized to address the challenges presented by building such an expansive dome over so large a space The idea is that {\displaystyle \pi }\pi , which is not expressible as a rational number, was approximated and deliberately used as a less accurate rational value that approximates the irrational number {\displaystyle \pi }\pi . This is appropriate for 22 which was used for solving circle problems in construction. When it is ascertained. The theories of Hero of Alexandria, a Hellenistic mathematician of the 1st century AD, may have been utilized to address the challenges presented by building such an expansive dome over so large a space
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This is appropriate for 22 which was used for solving circle problems in construction. When it is ascertained.
Deliberately used as a less accurate rational value that approximates the irrational number.
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MOSAIC The Constantine Mosaic The Christ Child sits on her lap, giving his blessing and holding a scroll in his left hand. On her left side stands emperor Constantine in ceremonial attire, presenting a model of the city to Mary.
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The Virgin Mosaic The southwestern entrance mosaic, situated in the tympanum of the southwestern entrance, dates from the reign of Basil II.[228] It was rediscovered during the restorations of 1849 by the Fossatis. The Virgin sits on a throne without a back, her feet resting on a pedestal, embellished with precious stones.
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