Tent of the Heavens: The Hagia Sophia

One of antiquity’s great engineering marvels, Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia has survived three empires and multiple earthquakes and served as a symbol for Christianity and Islam. The church was rebuilt by Emperor Theodosius II in 405. It stood until 532, when the whole building was razed during the so-called Nika riots, a protest against Emperor Justinian I, which resulted in the destruction of much of the city. The design for the church borrowed the rectangular basilica form from Roman architecture and evolved another Roman design element, the dome, into a form that would define the technically complex and sensuous style of Byzantine architecture. Hagia Sophia is no cruciform church, like those of the Christian West, but a domed Christian basilica on a centralized plan. The building measured 220 ft by 250 ft. The dome measured 120.5 ft in diameter and soared approximately 182.5 ft above the ground.