The church of Agia Sophia

Glossary (7)

mihrab: term from Islamic architecture referring to a semi circular niche in the wall of a mosque. It points in the direction of Mecca, towards which Muslims turn when praying.
domed octagon: single-nave church with square plan covered by a dome, which has octagonal support. A variant of this type is the cross-domed octagon found in mainland Greece. This is square or rectangular in plan and merges the dome of the octagonal church with the cross-vaulted extremeties of a cruciform church.
narthex: oblong reception area extending along the western side of a basilica. Originally the east portico of the atrium, it was later incorporated into the church, and served as a waiting area for catechumens, who were not allowed to attend the Divine Liturgy.
exonarthex or outer narthex: external gallery in the western part of a church, between the narthex and the atrium.
cloisonne masonry: elaborate church masonry style, in which rectangular stones are framed by one or two plinths (bricks) laid horizontally and vertically in single or double rows within the mortar of joints.
triple-light window: window with three openings that form an arc at the top.
ceramoplastic decoration: ceramic and plinth decorative elements inlayed on the exterior surfaces of church walls (bricks, meanders, crosses, diamonds, jagged strips, etc.)

Information Texts (4)

The church of Agia Sophia: Agia Sophia, which now serves as a museum, lies on the north-eastern side of Sultan Αhmet Square, opposite the Blue Mosque. The present day church is the third built on the same site: the original Agia Sophia, founded by Constantine the Great, was destroyed by fire in 404, when riots broke out in Constantinople over the dethronement of Patriarch John Chrysostom; the church renovated by Emperor Theodosius II suffered irreparable damage in 532, also by fire during the Nika Revolt. Agia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) and Agia Irene (Holy Peace) were dedicated to attributes of God, and together served as the churches of the Patriarchate. However, only Agia Sophia went down in history as the "Great Church".Construction work began immediately after Emperor Justinian had suppressed the Nika revolt, and was assigned to engineers Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus. The building was completed in five years and eleven months, and was inaugurated in December 537. Agia Sophia is considered one of the most splendid buildings of its time – even if this church was the only surviving Byzantine building, it would still be worth our while to study and admire Byzantine culture. In his work On Buildings, the historian Procopius describes the splendour and magnificence of the church, which stunned the faithful on account of its size and beauty, and the variety and richness of its decoration. The book also gives an account of the construction process and recounts the technical problems faced by the architects in erecting such a large building. As he writes, these were corrected thanks to the genius of Justinian, who gave the architects wise advice. Agia Sophia had to be larger, more majestic and more sumptuously decorated than the church of Agios Polyeuctus founded a few years earlier by the affluent Anicia Juliana, who hoped to put her son Olybrius on the throne.Agia Sophia is a combination of a domed basilica and a centrally planned building. Its construction was revolutionary and innovative for its time: the ground plan of the church forms a rectangle 77 by 71 metres, ending in and apse to the east and in a narthex and an exonarthex to the west. Inside, four large pillars stand in the corners of the nave, forming a 31 metre sided square. The pillars are connected to four arches, of which the north and south are very shallow, while the east and west end in four large conches to the east and west of the central square. The dome rests on forty ribs flanking forty windows in the lower section, pouring light into the central nave. The side aisles have galleries, of which the south was used by the emperor, his family, his senior officials and palace courtiers to attend the liturgy. Access to the nave is gained via five doors in the narthex, the middle one being known as the Royal Door.The church is famous not only for its architecture, but also for the mystical atmosphere created by light as it bounces off the precious materials glittering in the interior. The windows around the dome diffuse light and lend an impression of weightlessness and evanescence, creating the illusion that the vaults are floating and the dome is hanging from the sky. On the inside, the opulence and luxury of the materials used is awe-inspiring. According to Procopius, columns, marble, works of art and precious materials were brought from all the provinces of the empire to realize Justinian’s vision. The walls and pillars of the nave are dressed with green and dark blue-grey marble revetments, arranged so that the veins form symmetrical designs, while the columns in the niches on either side of the sanctuary apse and the entrance are of expensive, purple granite (porphyry). The architectural sculptures in the church - capitals, cornices and door frames - have delicate relief decoration, often attributed to the use of a small drill, so as to create embossed designs resembling lace around the main architectural members.All that remains of the exquisite mosaics in the church are a few fragments. Parts of the Justinian decoration are preserved in the intrados of the arcades in the central nave, the side aisle and the gallery vaults, and around the edge of the apse. The decoration is non-figurative (it does not include human figures), consisting of floral motifs and geometric shapes arranged on a gold background. The surviving representations were created after the end of Iconoclasm in 843, and were preserved because they were plastered over for as long as the church functioned as a mosque. The semi-dome in the sanctuary apse has a depiction of an enthroned Virgin and Child flanked by archangels; six-winged seraphim have survived on the dome pedentives. Prelates and prophets appear high up on the nave walls, between the windows. On the tympanum above the door in the corridor leading from the palace to the narthex, an enthroned Virgin and Child are shown flanked by Constantine the Great offering an effigy of Constantinople, and Justinian offering an effigy of Agia Sophia, so as to remind later emperors who founded the city ​​and the church. The semicircular tympanum above the central (Royal) door in the narthex bears a depiction of an emperor doing penance before the enthroned Christ, flanked by the Virgin Mary and an archangel in medallions. The emperor is probably Leo VI; he is shown in this position as a sign of penitence for his fourth marriage, which was illegal under canon law. In the north gallery there is a mosaic depiction of Leo’s VI brother, Alexander, clothed in imperial robes, which was probably painted during his short reign in 912-913. The east wall of the south gallery has two mosaic votive representations of Emperors Constantine Monomachus and Zoë, dating to around the year of Constantine’s ascension in 1044, and of John Comnenus and Irene, from around 1118. The south gallery also has an enormous representation of the Supplication, where Christ is flanked by the figures of the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist interceding for the salvation of men. This may have been sponsored by Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus himself, following the recovery of Constantinople in 1261. The monument has undergone several repairs and alterations down the centuries. The original dome collapsed in an earthquake in 558 and was rebuilt 6 metres higher by Isidore the Younger. The enormous weight was probably not sufficiently supported, causing the base of the dome to deform, the pillars and buttresses to bend backwards and the east and west arch to widen. In 989 the Armenian architect Trdat was called to Constantinople to carry out restoration work on the west arch and parts of the dome, which had collapsed after an earthquake. The east part of the dome collapsed once again in 1346. In the 16th century additional repairs were carried out, and the four minarets still seen today were added to the corners of the building. Swiss architects Gaspar and Giuseppe Fossati oversaw another major repair project between 1847 and 1849. The church was the seat of the Patriarchate throughout the Byzantine period. Following the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders in 1204 it became a Catholic archbishop’s cathedral, and after 1453 was converted into a mosque. It remained a place of worship from then until 1935, when it was declared a museum.
The city: Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, was built on the site of the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium, on the triangular peninsula formed by the Golden Horn, the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara. This was an excellent location that controlled trade routes linking the Aegean to the Black Sea. Emperor Constantine founded Constantinople in 330 AD as a city to rival Rome in splendour, wealth and power. The city grew fast, leading to problems of space and facilities, so Theodosius I extended it to the west by building new strong walls that protected Constantinople until the end of the Byzantine Empire. The city was laid out after Rome. A main road, the Mese Odos, linked the palace to the Golden Gate. On this road was the Forum, a circular plaza with a statue of Constantine mounted on a column, surrounded by public buildings. Theodosius I and Arcadius later built more forums decorated with their own statues. Following the Nika riots in the 6th century, Justinian adorned Constantinople with magnificent edifices, palaces, baths and public buildings. This time also saw the construction of Agia Sophia (the Holy Wisdom), the church which served as the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate throughout the Byzantine period. During the 7th and 8th centuries Constantinople faced major problems that threw it into disarray: attacks by the Avars (a siege in 674) and Arabs (attacks in 674 and 717-718); natural disasters (a powerful, destructive earthquake in 740); and epidemics (plague in 747). Limited building activity resumed in the 8th and 9th century, mainly concentrated on strengthening the city's fortifications. With the recovery of the Byzantine Empire from the 9th to the 11th century, Constantinople became the most populated city in Christendom; the majority of inhabitants were Greek-speaking, but many other ethnic groups lived alongside them, such as Jews, Armenians, Russians, Italians merchants, Arabs and mercenaries from Western Europe and Scandinavia. Many public, private and church-owned buildings were erected at the time, with an emphasis on establishing charitable institutions such as hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages and schools. Higher education flourished, thanks to the care of the state and the emergence of important scholars. This renaissance lasted until the mid-11th century, when economic problems due to poor management set in, compounded by the adverse outcome of imperial operations beyond the borders. The Crusaders left Constantinople entirely unscathed when first passing through, but in the Fourth Crusade of 1204 the Franks conquered and ransacked the city, slaughtering those inhabitants they did not take prisoner or drive out. In 1261 the city was retaken by Michael VIII Palaeologus, who rebuilt most of the monuments and the walls but proved unable to restore the city to its former splendour and glory. Enfeebled as it was, the empire was incapable of checking the advance of the Ottomans, and in 1453 Constantinople finally fell into their hands. The fall signalled the end of the empire. Nevertheless, the Byzantine intellectual tradition remained significant, as many scholars settled in the Venetian dominions of Crete and the Peloponnese, as well as in European countries, conveying Greek learning to the West.
The monastery of Daphni : Daphni Monastery is built on an exceptional site at the western entrance to the Attica Basin, on the edge of the forest at Chaidari. It is situated approximately halfway along the Sacred Way leading from Athens to Eleusis, probably on the site of the sanctuary of Apollo Daphnaios. The monastery is protected by a strong, square defensive wall with battlements, square towers and two gates. The surrounding wall encloses the catholicon, which is dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, as well as the remains of the cells and the other buildings, such as the kitchens and refectory. As a large and wealthy institution, the monastery may owe its foundation to circles in the imperial court. That being said, the donator’s identity and the precise foundation date remain unknown, since no inscription or other evidence yielding definitive information has yet been found. The catholicon or principal monastery church dates to the second half of the 11th century, and is of the octagonal type found in mainland Greece, without galleries, but with a narthex and more recent two-storey portico to the west. Sixteen single-lobed windows in the drum of the dome cast light evenly into the church interior. Thanks to the absence of galleries, from the outside the building appears to rise like a pyramid to the top of the dome. The walls were built of cloisonné masonry; large white blocks of stone were used from the ground up to window level, laid in a cross formation typical of the mid-Byzantine tradition in Greece proper. The ceramoplastic decoration is limited to a band of meanders in the upper section of the sanctuary apse, dogtooth bands around the window arches and above the cornice, and limited use of kufic ornaments. An open portico added to the western part of the church in the early 12th century was later built up and converted into an exonarthex. Its appearance was altered by Cistercian monks, to whom Otto de la Roche, Duke of Athens, granted the monastery in 1207. Lancet windows typical of western architecture have thus survived in the facade, probably in place of what were originally Byzantine arches. At the same time, the crypt below the narthex was converted into a mausoleum for the dukes of Athens, and a western-type monastery cloister consisting of a square courtyard with galleries was built to the south. When Athens was taken by the Ottoman Turks in 1458 the monastery was returned to Orthodox monks. In Late Byzantine times a peculiar north-oriented chapel was constructed to the west of the exonarthex. In 1840, following the Greek revolution, the monastery lost its community and was abandoned, only to be pressed into service as a public lunatic asylum. In the late 19th century continuous earthquakes put the catholicon at risk of collapse. Repair work followed, during which the dome was replaced and the mosaics repaired by Italian restorers. Some depictions were moved from their original position during relaying, while others were added to. The interior of the catholicon was laid out in the manner well known in the renowned buildings of Constantinople, with (now lost) marble revetments and sculpture decoration in the lower section of the church, and mosaics in the upper section. The exceptional set of mosaics follows the iconographic programme established after the end of the iconoclast controversy, reflecting new dogmatic beliefs centred on the Incarnation of the Lord. The austere figure of the Pantocrator rendered in metal thus dominates the dome, surrounded by prophets in the drum. The sanctuary niche has a depiction of the Virgin Mary enthroned, accompanied by archangels. Scenes from the Christological cycle are rendered on the squinches, the arches and the surfaces of the cross arms, together with saints and prelates at other points in the church. The iconographic programme is rounded off in the narthex with scenes from the Passion Cycle and the life of Virgin Mary. All the figures are represented in the right proportions, displaying restrained movement, while the harmony and symmetry of the compositions point to art strongly rooted in the classic tradition. Typical of this is the posture adopted by the prophets in the drum of the dome, which is reminiscent of ancient philosophers, as well as the graceful female figures in the narthex compositions. The Crucifixion scene in the church’s northern cross-arm renders the grief on the faces of the Virgin Mary and John in a unique manner. The flawless workmanship displayed in the church decoration point to a founder of considerable means, and artists trained in a Constantinople workshop. These exquisite mosaics date to somewhere between the 10th and late 11th century rank; in terms of quality they rank among the masterpieces of Byzantine art. Their classicistic character has recently led them to being assigned to the reign of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (913-959), though the general consensus is that they date to the late 11th century. The monument has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) since 1990.
The church of Agioi Theodoroi: Located next to Hodegetria in the north-eastern part of the Lower Town in Mystras, the church of Agioi Theodoroi was originally the catholicon and then the burial church of Vrontochi Monastery. It was built in 1290-1295 by Pachomius and Daniel, monks who are mentioned in a verse inscription on the templon architrave. Agioi Theodoroi exhibit the general features of a mainland octagonal church, but three centuries after the type was first employed at Agios Loukas in Phocis, the church displays a series of remarkable innovations. There are no tribunes or narthex, the dome is only supported on columns to the west, and the side compartments have barrel vaults rather than groin vaults. There are chapels in all four corners, the east of which served as a burial place.Externally, this evolved type of church takes the form of a cuboid building deftly scaled up, thus counterbalancing the aesthetic effect of the massive central dome. Decoration on the side walls is then taken up by characteristic features of the Greek school, such as zones of cloisonné masonry, dogtooth bands, ceramic cups, which initially coexisted with abacus-like friezes, quadrant arches flanking the windows and curved pediments. This special monument was supplemented by a narthex with tower-like corner chapels to the west, and a closed gallery to the north. The interior retains part of the original decoration dating to the late 13th century. The lower surfaces are covered in a series of full-length military saints above a zone imitating marble revetments, while the upper parts are covered with scenes from the Life of the Virgin Mary and the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. The later frescoes in the southeast chapel, which is apparently dedicated to Our Lady of the Life-Giving Spring, may date to around 1400. The figures of two Byzantine nobles are depicted on the north and south walls. In the north-east chapel there is a tomb and depiction of someone called Manuel Palaeologus kneeling and praying in front of the Virgin and Child. According to an inscription, Manuel died in 1423 or 1453. Surviving traces of the decoration in the north-west narthex chapel depict the miracles of Archangels Michael and Gabriel, to whom it was probably dedicated.

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