Hagia Irene ( Greek : Αγία Ειρήνη ) or Hagia Eirene ( Medieval Greek : Ἁγία Εἰρήνη Greek pronunciation: [aˈʝia iˈrini] , "Holy Peace", Turkish : Aya İrini ), sometimes known also as Saint Irene , is an Eastern Orthodox church located in the outer courtyard of Topkapı Palace in Istanbul . It is the oldest known church structure in the city and one of the only Byzantine churches in Istanbul that was never converted into a mosque, alongside the Church of Saint Mary of the Mongols , as it was used as an arsenal for storing weapons until the 19th century. The Hagia Irene today operates as a museum and concert hall.
200-473: The church was dedicated to the peace of God, and is one of the three shrines which emperors devoted to God's attributes, together with Hagia Sophia (Wisdom) and Hagia Dynamis. The building reputedly stands on the site of a pre-Christian temple. It ranks as the first church completed in Constantinople , before Hagia Sophia, during its transformation from a Greek trading colony to the eastern capital of
400-536: A gold ground . The ends are flared along with having teardrop shapes at the end. This extends around the base of the semidome. The cross was put in during the reconstruction by Constantine V, which was during the Iconoclastic years. On the bema arch there is an inscription of Psalm 64 verses 4–5 on the inner side, and then on the outer side there is an inscription of Amos 6 verse 6. There is evidence of alterations on these inscriptions as well. The inscriptions detail
600-401: A matroneum (women's section). The exterior was decorated with elaborate carvings of rich Theodosian-era designs, fragments of which have survived, while the floor just inside the portico was embellished with polychrome mosaics. The surviving carved gable end from the centre of the western façade is decorated with a cross-roundel. Fragments of a frieze of reliefs with 12 lambs representing
800-710: A Christian source, the Crusaders massacred some clerics who had surrendered to them. Much of the interior was damaged and would not be repaired until its return to Orthodox control in 1261. The sack of Hagia Sophia, and Constantinople in general, remained a sore point in Catholic–Eastern Orthodox relations . During the Latin occupation of Constantinople (1204–1261), the church became a Latin Catholic cathedral. Baldwin I of Constantinople ( r. 1204–1205 )
1000-524: A chariot race at the Hippodrome that nearly saw the emperor deposed. The riot spread quickly, engulfing the entire city in violence, and a majority of the city would be razed during the events of the revolt. The Hagia Irene was destroyed during the revolt, but it is unknown why it was targeted by the rioters (although it was the seat of the Patriarchate, which is significant considering the timing of
1200-633: A deacon of Hagia Sophia and an administrative official in for the patriarchate from Antioch in Pisidia . Both George and Theodore, likely members of Sergius's literary circle, attribute the defeat of the Avars to the intervention of the Theotokos , a belief that strengthened in following centuries. In 726, the emperor Leo the Isaurian issued a series of edicts against the veneration of images, ordering
1400-624: A few small-calibre artillery pieces, which in the end proved ineffective. The rest of the citizens repaired walls, stood guard on observation posts, collected and distributed food provisions, and collected gold and silver objects from churches to melt down into coins to pay the foreign soldiers. The Ottomans had a much larger force. Recent studies and Ottoman archival data state that there were some 50,000–80,000 Ottoman soldiers, including between 5,000 and 10,000 Janissaries , 70 cannons , and an elite infantry corps, and thousands of Christian troops, notably 1,500 Serbian cavalry that Đurađ Branković
1600-518: A fleet in February 1453, but the fleet's departure was delayed until April, when it was already too late for ships to assist in battle. Further undermining Byzantine morale, seven Italian ships with around 700 men, despite having sworn to defend Constantinople, slipped out of the capital the moment Giustiniani arrived. At the same time, Constantine's attempts to appease the Sultan with gifts ended with
1800-692: A fleet strength of 110 ships comprising 70 large galleys , 5 ordinary galleys, 10 smaller galleys, 25 large rowing boats, and 75 horse-transports. Before the siege of Constantinople, it was known that the Ottomans had the ability to cast medium-sized cannons , but the range of some pieces they were able to field far surpassed the defenders' expectations. The Ottomans deployed a number of cannons, anywhere from 12 to 62 cannons. They were built at foundries that employed Turkish cannon founders and technicians, most notably Saruca, in addition to at least one foreign cannon founder, Orban (also called Urban). Most of
2000-612: A gilded silver quadriga bearing the icon of the Virgin from the now-demolished East Gate (or Gate of St Barbara, later the Turkish : Top Kapısı , lit. 'Cannon Gate') in the Propontis Wall , to Hagia Sophia for a thanks-giving service, and then to the imperial palace. In 1181, the daughter of the emperor Manuel I, Maria Comnena , and her husband, the caesar Renier of Montferrat , fled to Hagia Sophia at
2200-463: A great fire in 859, and again in an earthquake on 8 January 869 that caused the collapse of one of the half-domes. Emperor Basil I ordered repair of the tympanas, arches, and vaults. In his book De caerimoniis aulae Byzantinae ("Book of Ceremonies"), the emperor Constantine VII ( r. 913–959 ) wrote a detailed account of the ceremonies held in the Hagia Sophia by the emperor and
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#17327660966672400-545: A huge impact upon the Constantinople's defense capabilities. At the end of March 1453, emperor Constantine XI ordered a census of districts to record how many able-bodied men were in the city and whatever weapons each possessed for defense. George Sphrantzes, the faithful chancellor of the last emperor, recorded that "in spite of the great size of our city, our defenders amounted to 4,773 Greeks, as well as just 200 foreigners". In addition there were volunteers from outside,
2600-594: A medieval artifact, near the probable location and is still visible today. The original tomb was destroyed by the Ottomans during the conversion of the church into a mosque. Upon the capture of Constantinople in 1261 by the Empire of Nicaea and the emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus , ( r. 1261–1282 ), the church was in a dilapidated state. In 1317, emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus ( r. 1282–1328 ) ordered four new buttresses ( Medieval Greek : Πυραμίδας , romanized : Pyramídas ) to be built in
2800-825: A mosque until 1935, when it became a museum. In 2020, the site once again became a mosque. The current structure was built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I as the Christian cathedral of Constantinople for the Byzantine Empire between 532 and 537, and was designed by the Greek geometers Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles . It was formally called the Church of God's Holy Wisdom (Greek: Ναὸς τῆς Ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ Σοφίας , romanized: Naòs tês Hagías toû Theoû Sophías ) and upon completion became
3000-623: A mosque. The first church on the site was known as the Magna Ecclesia ( Μεγάλη Ἐκκλησία , Megálē Ekklēsíā , 'Great Church') because of its size compared to the sizes of the contemporary churches in the city. According to the Chronicon Paschale , the church was consecrated on 15 February 360, during the reign of the emperor Constantius II ( r. 337–361 ) by the Arian bishop Eudoxius of Antioch . It
3200-666: A place called the Lone Tree …. That was the cause for the flight into the Great Church. In one hour that famous and enormous church was filled with men and women. An innumerable crowd was everywhere: upstairs, downstairs, in the courtyards, and in every conceivable place. They closed the gates and stood there, hoping for salvation. Fall of Constantinople 40,000–50,000 in total (Turkish sources) 60,000–80,000 in total (Modern sources) Naval forces: Naval forces: 26 ships The fall of Constantinople , also known as
3400-473: A planned increase in bread prices, after a stoppage of the Cura Annonae rations resulting from the loss of the grain supply from Egypt. The Persians under Shahrbaraz and the Avars together laid the siege of Constantinople in 626; according to the Chronicon Paschale , on 2 August 626, Theodore Syncellus , a deacon and presbyter of Hagia Sophia, was among those who negotiated unsuccessfully with
3600-576: A porphyry statue of himself dressed as Helios, and this statue had what is believed to be fragments of the True Cross and the axe Noah used to build the Ark inserted into the column, which may signify the transition between the traditional pagan religions of Rome into Christianity as the eventual state religion. Additionally, author Peter Sarris examines developments in the Byzantine Empire during
3800-515: A praise to the church as it is the house of the lord. The verses, especially the Psalm, were used as inspiration for some of the mosaics in Hagia Sophia . Hagia Irene also holds a synthronon . Synthronons are rows of built benches that are arranged in a semicircle in the apse. During Divine Liturgy this is where the clergy would sit. This is the only synthronon that has survived in the city from
4000-620: A prophecy. What was the reason that compelled all to flee to the Great Church? They had been listening, for many years, to some pseudo-soothsayers, who had declared that the city was destined to be handed over to the Turks, who would enter in large numbers and would massacre the Romans as far as the Column of Constantine the Great. After this an angel would descend, holding his sword. He would hand over
4200-538: A revived Roman triumph after his victory over the Danishmendids at the siege of Kastamon in 1133. After proceeding through the streets on foot carrying a cross with a silver quadriga bearing the icon of the Virgin Mary, the emperor participated in a ceremony at the cathedral before entering the imperial palace. In 1168, another triumph was held by the emperor Manuel I Comnenus , again preceding with
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#17327660966674400-436: A section of the damaged Blachernae walls in the north-west part of the city. This section of the walls had been built earlier, in the 11th century, and was much weaker. The Turkmen mercenaries managed to breach this section of walls and entered the city but they were just as quickly pushed back by the defenders. Finally, the last wave consisting of elite Janissaries , attacked the city walls. The Genoese general in charge of
4600-432: A sort as to be forgotten through the lapse of time. Still, the eyewitness of those who have seen testifies better than does the hearing of deeds that happened but yesterday or the day before. Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI swiftly understood Mehmed's true intentions and turned to Western Europe for help; but now the price of centuries of war and enmity between the eastern and western churches had to be paid. Since
4800-468: A timber roof, curtains, columns, and an entrance that faced west. It likely had a narthex and is described as being shaped like a Roman circus . This may mean that it had a U-shaped plan like the basilicas of San Marcellino e Pietro and Sant'Agnese fuori le mura in Rome . However, it may also have been a more conventional three-, four-, or five-aisled basilica, perhaps resembling the original Church of
5000-717: A tribute was paid to the Avars . The Avars attacked the extramural areas of Constantinople in 623, causing the Byzantines to move the "garment" relic ( ‹See Tfd› Greek: ἐσθής , translit. esthḗs ) of Mary, mother of Jesus to Hagia Sophia from its usual shrine of the Church of the Theotokos at Blachernae just outside the Theodosian Walls . On 14 May 626, the Scholae Palatinae , an elite body of soldiers, protested in Hagia Sophia against
5200-403: Is 15m wide and 35m high and has twenty windows. Hagia Irene has the typical form of a Roman basilica , consisting of a nave and two aisles , which are divided by three pairs of piers. This helps support the galleries above the narthex. Semicircular arches are also attached to the capitals which also helps give support to the galleries above. In Byzantine tradition, there is a unique vestige of
5400-683: Is a mosque and former church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul , Turkey . The last of three church buildings to be successively erected on the site by the Eastern Roman Empire , it was completed in AD 537. The site was an Eastern rite church from AD 360 to 1453, except for a brief time as a Latin Catholic church between the Fourth Crusade and 1261. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, it served as
5600-474: Is constructed with bricks stamped with brick-stamps dating from the 5th century, but the lower part is of constructed with bricks typical of the 4th century. This wall was probably part of the propylaeum at the west front of both the Constantinian and Theodosian Great Churches. The building was accompanied by a baptistery and a skeuophylakion . A hypogeum , perhaps with an martyrium above it,
5800-514: Is famously reported to have been moved to tears by this, saying, "What a city we have given over to plunder and destruction." Looting was carried out on a massive scale by sailors and marines who entered the city via other walls before they had been suppressed by regular troops, who were beyond the main gate. According to David Nicolle , the ordinary people were treated better by their Ottoman conquerors than their ancestors had been by Crusaders back in 1204, stating that only about 4,000 Greeks died in
6000-612: Is possible that both they and John the Lydian considered Hagia Sophia a great temple for the supreme Neoplatonist deity who manifestated through light and the sun. John the Lydian describes the church as the " temenos of the Great God" (Greek: τὸ τοῦ μεγάλου θεοῦ Τέμενος , romanized: tò toû megálou theoû Témenos ). Originally the exterior of the church was covered with marble veneer , as indicated by remaining pieces of marble and surviving attachments for lost panels on
6200-514: The Encyclopædia Britannica , Mehmed II "permitted an initial period of looting that saw the destruction of many Orthodox churches", but tried to prevent a complete sack of the city. The looting was extremely thorough in certain parts of the city. On 2 June, the Sultan found the city largely deserted and half in ruins; churches had been desecrated and stripped, houses were no longer habitable, and stores and shops were emptied. He
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6400-458: The khagan of the Avars. A homily , attributed by existing manuscripts to Theodore Syncellus and possibly delivered on the anniversary of the event, describes the translation of the Virgin's garment and its ceremonial re-translation to Blachernae by the patriarch Sergius I after the threat had passed. Another eyewitness account of the Avar–Persian siege was written by George of Pisidia ,
6600-478: The 12 apostles also remain; unlike Justinian's 6th-century church, the Theodosian Hagia Sophia had both colourful floor mosaics and external decorative sculpture. At the western end, surviving stone fragments of the structure show there was vaulting , at least at the western end. The Theodosian building had a monumental propylaeum hall with a portico that may account for this vaulting, which
6800-711: The Aegean , reached the Capital on 27 May and reported to the Emperor that no large Venetian relief fleet was on its way. On 28 May, as the Ottoman army prepared for the final assault, mass religious processions were held in the city. In the evening, a solemn last ceremony of Vespers was held in the Hagia Sophia , in which the Emperor with representatives and nobility of both the Latin and Greek churches partook. Up until this point,
7000-475: The Blachernae district's wall was the most fortified because that section of the wall protruded northwards. The land fortifications consisted of a 60 ft (18 m) wide moat fronting inner and outer crenellated walls studded with towers every 45–55 metres. The army defending Constantinople was relatively small, totalling about 7,000 men, 2,000 of whom were foreigners. The population decline also had
7200-896: The Bosphorus and defended against attack by the Genoese colonies on the Black Sea coast to the north. In fact, the new fortress was called Boğazkesen , which means "strait-blocker" or "throat-cutter". The wordplay emphasizes its strategic position: in Turkish boğaz means both "strait" and "throat". In October 1452, Mehmed ordered Turakhan Beg to station a large garrison force in the Peloponnese to block Thomas and Demetrios ( despotes in Southern Greece ) from providing aid to their brother Constantine XI Palaiologos during
7400-551: The Byzantine army was led by Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos . After conquering the city, Mehmed II made Constantinople the new Ottoman capital, replacing Adrianople . The fall of Constantinople and of the Byzantine Empire was a watershed of the Late Middle Ages , marking the effective end of the Roman Empire , a state which began in roughly 27 BC and had lasted nearly 1500 years. For many modern historians,
7600-484: The Chronicle of John Malalas , during a subsequent earthquake on 7 May 558, the eastern semi-dome collapsed, destroying the ambon , altar, and ciborium . The collapse was due mainly to the excessive bearing load and to the enormous shear load of the dome, which was too flat. These caused the deformation of the piers which sustained the dome. Justinian ordered an immediate restoration. He entrusted it to Isidorus
7800-577: The Column of Theodosius closer to Hagia Sophia; in others, it occurs at the Column of Constantine , which is closer still. Hagia Sophia is mentioned in a hagiography of uncertain date detailing the life of the Eastern Orthodox saint Andrew the Fool . The text is self-attributed to Nicephorus, a priest of Hagia Sophia, and contains a description of the end time in the form of a dialogue, in which
8000-539: The Council of Florence of 1439 proclaiming a Bull of Union . The imperial efforts to impose union were met with strong resistance in Constantinople. A propaganda initiative was stimulated by anti-unionist Orthodox partisans in Constantinople; the population, as well as the laity and leadership of the Byzantine Church, became bitterly divided. Latent ethnic hatred between Greeks and Italians, stemming from
8200-608: The Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly one thousand years, the church was dedicated to the Holy Wisdom . It was where the excommunication of Patriarch Michael I Cerularius was officially delivered by Humbert of Silva Candida , the envoy of Pope Leo IX in 1054, an act considered the start of the East–West Schism . In 1204, it was converted during the Fourth Crusade into a Catholic cathedral under
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8400-625: The Harbour of Eleutherios . Genoese and Catalan troops were stationed at the Great Palace ; Cardinal Isidore of Kiev guarded the tip of the peninsula near the boom. Finally, the sea walls at the southern shore of the Golden Horn were defended by Venetian and Genoese sailors under Gabriele Trevisano . Two tactical reserves were kept behind in the city: one in the Petra district just behind
8600-798: The Hippodrome of Constantinople , and the second Hagia Sophia was burnt to the ground on 13–14 January 532. The court historian Procopius wrote: And by way of shewing that it was not against the Emperor alone that they [the rioters] had taken up arms, but no less against God himself, unholy wretches that they were, they had the hardihood to fire the Church of the Christians, which the people of Byzantium call "Sophia", an epithet which they have most appropriately invented for God, by which they call His temple; and God permitted them to accomplish this impiety, foreseeing into what an object of beauty this shrine
8800-461: The Iconoclastic art within the church. The apse semidome and the bema arch are covered with mosaics. There are also the frescoes which can be found on the south side aisle. These mosaics date back to about the 8th century. This was during the time of the earthquake which most of the upper parts of the church can be dated back to. There is also a mosaic of a cross, which is outlined in black with
9000-693: The Latin Empire , before being returned to the Eastern Orthodox Church upon the restoration of the Byzantine Empire in 1261. Enrico Dandolo , the doge of Venice who led the Fourth Crusade and the 1204 Sack of Constantinople , was buried in the church. After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, it was converted to a mosque by Mehmed the Conqueror and became the principal mosque of Istanbul until
9200-618: The Lycus down to the Sea of Marmara . Mehmed himself erected his red-and-gold tent near the Mesoteichion , where the guns and the elite Janissary regiments were positioned. The Bashi-bazouks were spread out behind the front lines. Other troops under Zagan Pasha were employed north of the Golden Horn. Communication was maintained by a road that had been destroyed over the marshy head of
9400-523: The Mausoleum of Helena ), it is possible it originally had a funerary function, though by 405 its use had changed. A later account credited a woman called Anna with donating the land on which the church was built in return for the right to be buried there. Excavations on the western side of the site of the first church under the propylaeum wall reveal that the first church was built atop a road about 8 m (26 ft) wide. According to early accounts,
9600-772: The Pegae Gate with Greek soldiers. The section of the land walls from the Pegae Gate to the Golden Gate (itself guarded by a Genoese called Manuel) was defended by the Venetian Filippo Contarini, while Demetrius Cantacuzenus had taken position on the southernmost part of the Theodosian wall. The sea walls were guarded more sparsely, with Jacobo Contarini at Stoudion , a makeshift defence force of Greek monks to his left hand, and Prince Orhan at
9800-434: The Rus'–Byzantine War of 941 and the death of the Grand Prince of Kiev , Igor I ( r. 912–945 ), his widow Olga of Kiev – regent for her infant son Sviatoslav I ( r. 945–972 ) – visited the emperor Constantine VII and was received as queen of the Rus' in Constantinople. She was probably baptized in Hagia Sophia's baptistery, taking the name of the reigning augusta , Helena Lecapena , and receiving
10000-416: The conquest of Constantinople , was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Empire . The city was captured on 29 May 1453 as part of the culmination of a 55-day siege which had begun on 6 April. The attacking Ottoman Army , which significantly outnumbered Constantinople's defenders, was commanded by the 21-year-old Sultan Mehmed II (later nicknamed "the Conqueror"), while
10200-417: The mutual excommunications of 1054, the Pope in Rome was committed to establishing unity with the eastern church . The union was agreed by the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1274, at the Second Council of Lyon , and indeed, some Palaiologoi emperors had since been received into the Latin Church . Emperor John VIII Palaiologos had also recently negotiated union with Pope Eugene IV , with
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#173276609666710400-419: The synthronon . He adds that mules and donkeys were brought into the cathedral's sanctuary to carry away the gilded silver plating of the bema, the ambo, and the doors and other furnishings, and that one of them slipped on the marble floor and was accidentally disembowelled, further contaminating the place. According to Ali ibn al-Athir , whose treatment of the Sack of Constantinople was probably dependent on
10600-402: The "Genoese, Venetians and those who came secretly from Galata to help the defense", who numbered "hardly as many as three thousand", amounting to something under 8,000 men in total to defend a perimeter wall of twelve miles. At the onset of the siege, probably fewer than 50,000 people were living within the walls, including the refugees from the surrounding area. Turkish commander Dorgano, who
10800-416: The "Great Church", likely on 15 April 428. According to the anonymous Letter to Cosmas , the virgin empress, a promoter of the cult of the Virgin Mary who habitually partook in the Eucharist at the sanctuary of Nestorius's predecessors, claimed right of entry because of her equivalent position to the Theotokos – the Virgin Mary – "having given birth to God". Their theological differences were part of
11000-403: The 1616 construction of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque . Upon its conversion, the bells , altar , iconostasis , ambo , and baptistery were removed, while iconography , such as the mosaic depictions of Jesus, Mary , Christian saints and angels were removed or plastered over. Islamic architectural additions included four minarets , a minbar and a mihrab . The Byzantine architecture of
11200-465: The 4th-century skeuophylakion survived the fire. According to Dark and Kostenec, the fire may only have affected the main basilica, leaving the surrounding ancillary buildings intact. A second church on the site was ordered by Theodosius II ( r. 402–450 ), who inaugurated it on 10 October 415. The Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae , a fifth-century list of monuments, names Hagia Sophia as Magna Ecclesia , 'Great Church', while
11400-407: The 4th-century church was not yet known as Hagia Sophia. Though its name as the 'Great Church' implies that it was larger than other Constantinopolitan churches, the only other major churches of 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 . The church itself is known to have had
11600-408: The 5th century Theodosian basilica could have been built surrounded by a complex constructed primarily during the fourth century. During the reign of Theodosius II, the emperor's elder sister, the Augusta Pulcheria ( r. 414–453 ) was challenged by the patriarch Nestorius ( r. 10 April 428 – 22 June 431 ). The patriarch denied the Augusta access to the sanctuary of
11800-401: The Armenian architect Trdat , creator of the Cathedral of Ani , to direct the repairs. He erected again and reinforced the fallen dome arch, and rebuilt the west side of the dome with 15 dome ribs. The extent of the damage required six years of repair and reconstruction; the church was re-opened on 13 May 994. At the end of the reconstruction, the church's decorations were renovated, including
12000-400: The Bosphorus and a smaller castle at the village of Studius near the Sea of Marmara were taken within a few days. The Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara were likely taken by Admiral Baltoghlu 's fleet during this phase of the siege. Mehmed's massive cannons fired on the walls for weeks but due to their imprecision and extremely slow rate of fire, the Byzantines were able to repair most of
12200-403: The Byzantine Empire in 529 and were ruthlessly suppressed, with almost 100,000 being killed during the suppression of the uprising. Politically, the Church and the Western/Eastern Roman emperors interacted with each other with various power dynamics. On one hand, it was apparent that church leaders had, at times, significant power over the emperor, such as St. Ambrose denying Theodosius I entry to
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#173276609666712400-459: The Byzantine era. The synthronon in Hagia Irene has six tiers of seats. There are doors at both side that open up into an ambulatory beneath the fourth tier of seats. The capitals of the original church building were removed during a reconstruction in the Byzantine era, and only ten of them were reused in the atrium of the building. They show monograms with the names and titles of the imperial couple Justinian and Theodora. Although scholarly work on
12600-509: The Byzantines, but they were unable to secure the funds needed to hire him. Orban then left Constantinople and approached Mehmed II, claiming that his weapon could blast "the walls of Babylon itself". Given abundant funds and materials, the Hungarian engineer built the gun within three months at Edirne . However, this was the only cannon that Orban built for the Ottoman forces at Constantinople, and it had several drawbacks: it took three hours to reload; cannonballs were in very short supply; and
12800-409: The Church of the Wisdom, at the top of the window, a large flame of fire issuing forth. It encircled the entire neck of the church for a long time. The flame gathered into one; its flame altered, and there was an indescribable light. At once it took to the sky. ... The light itself has gone up to heaven; the gates of heaven were opened; the light was received; and again they were closed." This phenomenon
13000-419: The Eastern Orthodox Church. According to an early 14th-century source, the second church in Kiev, Saint Sophia's , was founded in anno mundi 6460 in the Byzantine calendar , or c. 952 . The name of this future cathedral of Kiev probably commemorates Olga's baptism at Hagia Sophia. After the great earthquake of 25 October 989, which collapsed the western dome arch, Emperor Basil II asked for
13200-467: The European envoys at his new court. But Mehmed's mild words were not matched by his actions. By early 1452, work began on the construction of a second fortress ( Rumeli hisarı ) on the European side of the Bosphorus , several miles north of Constantinople. The new fortress sat directly across the strait from the Anadolu Hisarı fortress, built by Mehmed's great-grandfather Bayezid I . This pair of fortresses ensured complete control of sea traffic on
13400-518: The Great Logothete George Sphrantzes : 200,000; the Cardinal Isidore of Kiev and the Archbishop of Mytilene Leonardo di Chio: 300,000). Mehmed built a fleet (crewed partially by Spanish sailors from Gallipoli ) to besiege the city from the sea. Contemporary estimates of the strength of the Ottoman fleet span from 110 ships to 430 (Tedaldi: 110; Barbaro: 145; Ubertino Pusculo: 160, Isidore of Kiev and Leonardo di Chio: 200–250; (Sphrantzes): 430). A more realistic modern estimate predicts
13600-488: The Greek historian Doukas , the Hagia Sophia was tainted by these Catholic associations, and the anti-union Orthodox faithful avoided the cathedral, considering it to be a haunt of demons and a "Hellenic" temple of Roman paganism . Doukas also notes that after the Laetentur Caeli was proclaimed, the Byzantines dispersed discontentedly to nearby venues where they drank toasts to the Hodegetria icon, which had, according to late Byzantine tradition, interceded to save them in
13800-402: The Hagia Irene mainly centers on some of its architectural features, looking at the different scholarly interpretations of architecture, both religious and secular, in Byzantine society can provide a glimpse into the church and state dynamics of the time. There is debate among scholars as to the extent of the usage of churches as “imperial propaganda”, especially once Christianity is established as
14000-419: The Hagia Irene was only accessible during events or by special permission, but the museum has been open to the public every day except Tuesday since January 2014. Reconstruction during the reign of Justinian I shows change in the architecture of the atrium and narthex, which stayed intact after the earthquake. Restoration after the earthquake created a stronger foundation for the church. Before being rebuilt,
14200-403: The Hagia Sophia served as inspiration for many other religious buildings including the Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki , Panagia Ekatontapiliani , the Şehzade Mosque , the Süleymaniye Mosque , the Rüstem Pasha Mosque and the Kılıç Ali Pasha Complex . The patriarchate moved to the Church of the Holy Apostles , which became the city's cathedral. The complex remained a mosque until 1931, when it
14400-696: The Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem or the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem . The building was likely preceded by an atrium , as in the later churches on the site. According to Ken Dark and Jan Kostenec, a further remnant of the 4th century basilica may exist in a wall of alternating brick and stone banded masonry immediately to the west of the Justinianic church. The top part of the wall
14600-695: The Horn. The Ottomans were experts in laying siege to cities. They knew that in order to prevent diseases they had to burn corpses, sanitarily dispose of excrement, and carefully scrutinize their sources of water. The city had about 20 km of walls ( land walls : 5.5 km; sea walls along the Golden Horn: 7 km; sea walls along the Sea of Marmara: 7.5 km), one of the strongest sets of fortified walls in existence. The walls had recently been repaired (under John VIII ) and were in fairly good shape, giving
14800-620: The Justinianic Hagia Sophia revealed the western remains of its Theodosian predecessor, as well as some fragments of the Constantinian church. German archaeologist Alfons Maria Schneider began conducting archaeological excavations during the mid-1930s, publishing his final report in 1941. Excavations in the area that had once been the 6th-century atrium of the Justinianic church revealed the monumental western entrance and atrium, along with columns and sculptural fragments from both 4th- and 5th-century churches. Further digging
15000-457: The Latin spelling of his name, "John Justinian", named after the famous 6th century Byzantine emperor Justinian the Great . Around the same time, the captains of the Venetian ships that happened to be present in the Golden Horn offered their services to the Emperor, barring contrary orders from Venice , and Pope Nicholas undertook to send three ships laden with provisions, which set sail near
15200-559: The Nicean council and all following councils, and these efforts were directed against Jews, pagans, and “heretics”. Jews were alienated from Byzantine society, and Jewish writings began shifting from Greek to Hebrew as they retreated to the safety of their own culture. Pagans had restrictive laws placed against them, with severe penalties, including death, for breaking them. Any sort of coordinated resistance efforts were squashed. Samaritans, an ethno-religious group similar to Jews, rose up against
15400-476: The Ottoman navy assuming control over the Golden Horn, which was accomplished by midday. The army converged upon the Augusteum , the vast square that fronted the great church of Hagia Sophia whose bronze gates were barred by a huge throng of civilians inside the building, hoping for divine protection. After the doors were breached, the troops separated the congregation according to what price they might bring in
15600-457: The Ottoman siege. Constantinople had been an imperial capital since its consecration in 330 under Roman emperor Constantine the Great . In the following eleven centuries, the city had been besieged many times but was captured only once before: the Sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. The crusaders established an unstable Latin state in and around Constantinople while
15800-517: The Ottomans from entering the city and the defenders were overwhelmed at several points along the wall. Janissaries, led by Ulubatlı Hasan , pressed forward. Many Greek soldiers ran back home to protect their families, the Venetians retreated to their ships and a few of the Genoese escaped to Galata. The rest surrendered or committed suicide by jumping off the city walls. The Greek houses nearest to
16000-556: The Ottomans had fired 5,000 shots from their cannons using 55,000 pounds of gunpowder. Criers roamed the camp to the sound of the blasting horns, rousing the Ghazis. Shortly after midnight on Tuesday 29 May, the offensive began. The Christian troops of the Ottoman Empire attacked first, followed by successive waves of the irregular azaps , who were poorly trained and equipped and Anatolian Turkmen beylik forces who focused on
16200-512: The Pope, promising to implement the union, which was declared valid by a half-hearted imperial court on 12 December 1452. Although he was eager for an advantage, Pope Nicholas V did not have the influence the Byzantines thought he had over the Western kings and princes, some of whom were wary of increasing papal control. Furthermore, these Western rulers did not have the wherewithal to contribute to
16400-585: The Roman Empire. According to later tradition but disputed by some scholars, the Roman emperor Constantine I commissioned the first Hagia Irene church in the 4th century, which was completed by the end of his reign (337). When Constantine died, it is believed that his resting place may be the porphyry sarcophagus that lay in the courtyard. It served as the church of the Patriarchate before Hagia Sophia
16600-686: The Theodosian Walls, the intricate series of walls and ditches protecting Constantinople from an attack from the West and the only part of the city not surrounded by water. His army encamped outside the city on 2 April 1453, the Monday after Easter . The bulk of the Ottoman army was encamped south of the Golden Horn. The regular European troops, stretched out along the entire length of the walls, were commanded by Karadja Pasha. The regular troops from Anatolia under Ishak Pasha were stationed south of
16800-429: The Turkish haute couture designer Faruk Saraç produced a special show here. A collection of 700 designed pieces inspired by the Ottoman sultans, including the robes of 36 sultans ranging from Osman Gazi , the founder of the Ottoman Empire to the last sultan, Mehmed VI , were on display. The show was accompanied by music and the story of the sultans' lives and demonstrations of Ottoman-era dancing. For many years,
17000-626: The Younger, nephew of Isidore of Miletus, who used lighter materials. The entire vault had to be taken down and rebuilt 20 Byzantine feet (6.25 m or 20.5 ft) higher than before, giving the building its current interior height of 55.6 m (182 ft). Moreover, Isidorus changed the dome type, erecting a ribbed dome with pendentives whose diameter was between 32.7 and 33.5 m. Under Justinian's orders, eight Corinthian columns were disassembled from Baalbek , Lebanon and shipped to Constantinople around 560. This reconstruction, which gave
17200-433: The addition of four immense paintings of cherubs; a new depiction of Christ on the dome; a burial cloth of Christ shown on Fridays, and on the apse a new depiction of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus, between the apostles Peter and Paul. On the great side arches were painted the prophets and the teachers of the church. According to the 13th-century Greek historian Niketas Choniates , the emperor John II Comnenus celebrated
17400-518: The advance of the Turks. The identity of the emperor was often confused with that of other famous saint-emperors like Theodosius I and Heraclius . The orb was frequently referred to as an apple in foreigners' accounts of the city, and it was interpreted in Greek folklore as a symbol of the Turks' mythological homeland in Central Asia, the "Lone Apple Tree". The orb fell to the ground in 1316 and
17600-414: The all-holy dedicatory offerings". After a successful sally by Renier and his knights, Maria requested a truce, the imperial assault ceased, and an amnesty was negotiated by the megas doux Andronikos Kontostephanos and the megas hetaireiarches John Doukas . Greek historian Niketas Choniates compared the preservation of the cathedral to the efforts made by the 1st-century emperor Titus to avoid
17800-508: The architecture of the church, the liturgical services, and the scriptures itself. Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( Turkish : Ayasofya ; Ancient Greek : Ἁγία Σοφία , romanized : Hagía Sophía ; Latin : Sancta Sapientia ; lit. ' Holy Wisdom ' ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (Turkish: Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi ; Greek : Μεγάλο Τζαμί της Αγίας Σοφίας ),
18000-450: The army to destroy all icons – ushering in the period of Byzantine iconoclasm . At that time, all religious pictures and statues were removed from the Hagia Sophia. Following a brief hiatus during the reign of Empress Irene (797–802), the iconoclasts returned. Emperor Theophilus ( r. 829–842 ) had two-winged bronze doors with his monograms installed at the southern entrance of the church. The basilica suffered damage, first in
18200-499: The building we now see, it seems to me that they would have prayed that they might see their church destroyed forthwith, in order that the building might be converted into its present form. Upon seeing the finished building, the Emperor reportedly said: "Solomon, I have surpassed thee " ( Medieval Greek : Νενίκηκά σε Σολομών ). Justinian and Patriarch Menas inaugurated the new basilica on 27 December 537, 5 years and 10 months after construction started, with much pomp. Hagia Sophia
18400-489: The building with 4,000 Roman pounds of gold, but he was dismissed from office in October 532. John the Lydian wrote that Phocas had acquired the funds by moral means, but Evagrius Scholasticus later wrote that the money had been obtained unjustly. According to Anthony Kaldellis , both of Hagia Sophia's architects named by Procopius were associated with the school of the pagan philosopher Ammonius of Alexandria . It
18600-457: The building's western face. The white marble cladding of much of the church, together with gilding of some parts, would have given Hagia Sophia a shimmering appearance quite different from the brick- and plaster-work of the modern period, and would have significantly increased its visibility from the sea. The cathedral's interior surfaces were sheathed with polychrome marbles, green and white with purple porphyry , and gold mosaics. The exterior
18800-518: The building. Construction of the church began in 532 during the short tenure of Phocas as praetorian prefect . Although Phocas had been arrested in 529 as a suspected practitioner of paganism , he replaced John the Cappadocian after the Nika Riots saw the destruction of the Theodosian church. According to John the Lydian , Phocas was responsible for funding the initial construction of
19000-487: The cannon is said to have collapsed under its own recoil after six weeks. The account of the cannon's collapse is disputed, given that it was only reported in the letter of Archbishop Leonardo di Chio and in the later, and often unreliable, Russian chronicle of Nestor Iskander . Having previously established a large foundry about 150 miles (240 km) away, Mehmed now had to undertake the painstaking process of transporting his massive artillery pieces. In preparation for
19200-462: The cannons at the siege were built by Turkish engineers, including a large bombard by Saruca, while one cannon was built by Orban, who also contributed a large bombard. Orban, a Hungarian (though some suggest he was German ), was a somewhat mysterious figure. His 27-foot-long (8.2 m) cannon was named " Basilica " and was able to hurl a 600-pound (270 kg) stone ball over a mile (1.6 km). Orban initially tried to sell his services to
19400-577: The capital. At the time of the Hagia Irene’s founding, Constantinople was not yet recognized as the capital and seat of power of the Byzantine Emperors due to the frequent travels of Emperor Constantine (r. 306-337), as it is understood that imperial power wasn’t necessarily concentrated in a capital like Rome, but around the emperor when he embarked on his travels. As Constantine’s dynasty unfolded, each emperor made more and more improvements to
19600-744: The church a military antiques museum. It was used as the Military Museum from 1908 until 1978 when it was then turned over to the Turkish Ministry of Culture . Today, the Hagia Irene serves mainly as a concert hall for classical music performances, due to its extraordinary acoustic characteristics and impressive atmosphere. Many of the concerts of the Istanbul International Music Festival have been held here every summer since 1980. In 2000,
19800-572: The church for the first time, he boasted that he had surpassed Solomon, a reference to part of the text on the Polyeuktos' plaque. Still, other scholars have chosen to focus on churches through their function as a place of worship. Author Allan Doig notes that the unique church architecture that occurred under Justinian such as the centrally planned church were made to improve the liturgical processes of churches by encouraging those who visited to gain an understanding of God by contemplating three things:
20000-575: The church in Milan until he repented for his role in the Massacre of Thessalonica. However, at other times there were interactions that were friendly. Liturgical practices during services at the Hagia Sophia during Justinian’s reign saw the emperor and the Patriarch of Constantinople, in a private room high above and away from the citizens of Constantinople, engage in prayer to God before returning to lead
20200-462: The church its present 6th-century form, was completed in 562. The poet Paul the Silentiary composed an ekphrasis , or long visual poem, for the re-dedication of the basilica presided over by Patriarch Eutychius on 24 December 562. Paul the Silentiary's poem is conventionally known under the Latin title Descriptio Sanctae Sophiae , and he was also author of another ekphrasis on the ambon of
20400-718: The church, the Descripto Ambonis . According to the history of the patriarch Nicephorus I and the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor , various liturgical vessels of the cathedral were melted down on the order of the emperor Heraclius ( r. 610–641 ) after the capture of Alexandria and Roman Egypt by the Sasanian Empire during the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 . Theophanes states that these were made into gold and silver coins, and
20600-479: The city on their own account. Cardinal Isidore , funded by the Pope, arrived in 1452 with 200 archers. An accomplished soldier from Genoa , Giovanni Giustiniani , arrived in January 1453 with 400 men from Genoa and 300 men from Genoese Chios . As a specialist in defending walled cities, Giustiniani was immediately given the overall command of the defence of the land walls by the Emperor. The Byzantines knew him by
20800-426: The city that would see the consolidation of the city’s status as a true seat of power. By Emperor Constantius II’s reign (r. 337-361), the city featured an impressive amount of public and political institutions: a Senate building, libraries, bathouses, and churches. There is very little scholarship on the function of the Hagia Irene from Constantine, even during the turbulent periods of theological controversies. One of
21000-469: The city's capture. Despite the ill-repute and empty state of Hagia Sophia after December 1452, Doukas writes that after the Theodosian Walls were breached, the Byzantines took refuge there as the Turks advanced through the city: "All the women and men, monks, and nuns ran to the Great Church. They, both men and women, were holding in their arms their infants. What a spectacle! That street was crowded, full of human beings." He attributes their change of heart to
21200-570: The complex with locals and mercenaries, and despite the strong opposition of the patriarch, made the "house of prayer into a den of thieves or a well-fortified and precipitous stronghold, impregnable to assault", while "all the dwellings adjacent to Hagia Sophia and adjoining the Augusteion were demolished by [Maria's] men". A battle ensued in the Augustaion and around the Milion , during which
21400-522: The congregation together. Despite moments of difference between the state and the church throughout Byzantine history, Justinian’s aforementioned stance on religious deviation showed a common imperial and religious goal. The Hagia Irene church witnessed one of the most devastating episodes in the history of Constantinople as a city, which was the Nika Revolt in 532. Around the time of Justinian’s campaign of religious consolidation, A riot broke out after
21600-523: The construction process. This new church was contemporaneously recognized as a major work of architecture. Outside the church was an elaborate array of monuments around the bronze-plated Column of Justinian , topped by an equestrian statue of the emperor which dominated the Augustaeum , the open square outside the church which connected it with the Great Palace complex through the Chalke Gate . At
21800-456: The content written indicates that the displaying of “personal” propaganda had to be toned down. In the book “ The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian”, contributor Joseph Alchermes discusses how the patronage of grand churches like the Hagia Sophia may have been used in political infighting during the time of Justinian. Like the Hagia Irene, Emperor Justinian I rebuilt the Hagia Sophia after it
22000-399: The controversy over the title theotokos that resulted in the Council of Ephesus and the stimulation of Monophysitism and Nestorianism , a doctrine, which like Nestorius, rejects the use of the title. Pulcheria along with Pope Celestine I and Patriarch Cyril of Alexandria had Nestorius overthrown, condemned at the ecumenical council, and exiled. The area of the western entrance to
22200-419: The cost of many struggles and very great dangers and that, having passed it along in succession from their fathers, from father to son, they handed it down to me. For some of the oldest of you were sharers in many of the exploits carried through by them—those at least of you who are of maturer years—and the younger of you have heard of these deeds from your fathers. They are not such very ancient events nor of such
22400-404: The culmination of their dispute with the empress Maria of Antioch , regent for her son, the emperor Alexius II Comnenus . Maria Comnena and Renier occupied the cathedral with the support of the patriarch, refusing the imperial administration's demands for a peaceful departure. According to Niketas Choniates, they "transformed the sacred courtyard into a military camp", garrisoned the entrances to
22600-442: The damage after each shot, mitigating the effect of the Ottoman artillery. Despite some probing attacks, the Ottoman fleet under Baltoghlu could not enter the Golden Horn due to the chain across the entrance. Although one of the fleet's main tasks was to prevent any foreign ships from entering the Golden Horn, on 20 April, a small flotilla of four Christian ships managed to get in after some heavy fighting, an event which strengthened
22800-474: The dead ones ... without caring how near they came to the city walls. Our men shot at them with guns and crossbows, aiming at the Turk who was carrying away his dead countryman, and both of them would fall to the ground dead, and then there came other Turks and took them away, none fearing death, but being willing to let ten of themselves be killed rather than suffer the shame of leaving a single Turkish corpse by
23000-515: The defenders fought from the "gallery of the Catechumeneia (also called the Makron)" facing the Augusteion, from which they eventually retreated and took up positions in the exonarthex of Hagia Sophia itself. At this point, "the patriarch was anxious lest the enemy troops enter the temple, with unholy feet trample the holy floor, and with hands defiled and dripping with blood still warm plunder
23200-481: The defenders on land, Giovanni Giustiniani , was grievously wounded during the attack, and his evacuation from the ramparts caused a panic in the ranks of the defenders. With Giustiniani's Genoese troops retreating into the city and towards the harbour, Constantine and his men, now left to their own devices, continued to hold their ground against the Janissaries. Constantine's men eventually could not prevent
23400-485: The defenders sufficient reason to believe that they could hold out until help from the West arrived. In addition, the defenders were relatively well-equipped with a fleet of 26 ships: 5 from Genoa , 5 from Venice , 3 from Venetian Crete , 1 from Ancona , 1 from Aragon , 1 from France, and about 10 from the empire itself. On 5 April, the Sultan himself arrived with his last troops, and the defenders took up their positions. As Byzantine numbers were insufficient to occupy
23600-623: The destruction of a city founded on seven hills in the Book of Revelation was frequently understood to be about Constantinople, and the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius had predicted an " Ishmaelite " conquest of the Roman Empire. In this text, the Muslim armies reach the Forum Bovis before being turned back by divine intervention; in later apocalyptic texts, the climactic turn takes place at
23800-779: The destruction of the Second Temple during the siege of Jerusalem in the First Jewish–Roman War . Choniates reports that in 1182, a white hawk wearing jesses was seen to fly from the east to Hagia Sophia, flying three times from the "building of the Thōmaitēs " (a basilica erected on the southeastern side of the Augustaion) to the Palace of the Kathisma in the Great Palace , where new emperors were acclaimed . This
24000-560: The destruction of the Theodosian Hagia Sophia and comparing the new church with the old, Procopius lauded the Justinianic building, writing in De aedificiis : ... the Emperor Justinian built not long afterwards a church so finely shaped, that if anyone had enquired of the Christians before the burning if it would be their wish that the church should be destroyed and one like this should take its place, shewing them some sort of model of
24200-488: The early challenges facing the developing Christian Church was the Arian controversy, which centered around Christ being divine or not. To resolve this issue, a council was held at Nicea that resulted in the widely accepted Nicean Creed, which stated that Christ was begotten from God, and as such is divine. The arrival of Justinian to the throne in 527 saw a concerted effort to stamp out any deviation from Orthodoxy as defined by
24400-445: The eastern and northern parts of the church, financing them with the inheritance of his late wife, Irene of Montferrat ( d. 1314). New cracks developed in the dome after the earthquake of October 1344, and several parts of the building collapsed on 19 May 1346. Repairs by architects Astras and Peralta began in 1354. On 12 December 1452, Isidore of Kiev proclaimed in Hagia Sophia the long-anticipated ecclesiastical union between
24600-698: The edge of the Augustaeum was the Milion and the Regia, the first stretch of Constantinople's main thoroughfare, the Mese . Also facing the Augustaeum were the enormous Constantinian thermae , the Baths of Zeuxippus , and the Justinianic civic basilica under which was the vast cistern known as the Basilica Cistern . On the opposite side of Hagia Sophia was the former cathedral, Hagia Irene. Referring to
24800-439: The edifice was built by Constantius' father, Constantine the Great ( r. 306–337 ). Hesychius of Miletus wrote that Constantine built Hagia Sophia with a wooden roof and removed 427 (mostly pagan) statues from the site. The 12th-century chronicler Joannes Zonaras reconciles the two opinions, writing that Constantius had repaired the edifice consecrated by Eusebius of Nicomedia , after it had collapsed. Since Eusebius
25000-723: The effort, especially in light of the weakened state of France and England from the Hundred Years' War , Spain's involvement in the Reconquista , the internecine fighting in the Holy Roman Empire , and Hungary and Poland's defeat at the Battle of Varna of 1444. Although some troops did arrive from the mercantile city-states in northern Italy, the Western contribution was not adequate to counterbalance Ottoman strength. Some Western individuals, however, came to help defend
25200-618: The end of March. From the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily arrived in Constantinople the condottiero Gabriele Orsini del Balzo , duke of Venosa and count of Ugento , together with 200 Neapolitan archers, who died fighting for the defense of the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Meanwhile, in Venice, deliberations were taking place concerning the kind of assistance the Republic would lend to Constantinople. The Senate decided upon sending
25400-630: The events of the Massacre of the Latins in 1182 by the Greeks and the Sack of Constantinople in 1204 by the Latins, played a significant role. Ultimately, the attempted union between east and west failed, greatly annoying Pope Nicholas V and the hierarchy of the Roman church. In the summer of 1452, when Rumeli Hisarı was completed and the threat of the Ottomans had become imminent, Constantine wrote to
25600-403: The execution of the Emperor's ambassadors. Fearing a possible naval attack along the shores of the Golden Horn , Emperor Constantine XI ordered that a defensive chain be placed at the mouth of the harbour. This chain, which floated on logs, was strong enough to prevent any Turkish ship from entering the harbour. This device was one of two that gave the Byzantines some hope of extending
25800-423: The fall of Constantinople marks the end of the medieval period and the beginning of the early modern period . The city's fall also stood as a turning point in military history . Since ancient times, cities and castles had depended upon ramparts and walls to repel invaders. The Walls of Constantinople , especially the Theodosian Walls, protected Constantinople from attack for 800 years and were noted as some of
26000-610: The fall of Constantinople stated the Ottoman invaders pillaged the city, murdered or enslaved tens of thousands of people, and raped nuns, women and children: All the valuables and other booty were taken to their camp, and as many as sixty thousand Christians who had been captured. The crosses which had been placed on the roofs or the walls of churches were torn down and trampled. Women were raped, virgins deflowered and youths forced to take part in shameful obscenities. The nuns left behind, even those who were obviously such, were disgraced with foul debaucheries. During three days of pillaging,
26200-454: The fifth-century Theodosian Walls . By 1450, the empire was exhausted and had shrunk to a few square kilometers outside the city of Constantinople itself, the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara and the Peloponnese with its cultural center at Mystras . The Empire of Trebizond , an independent successor state that formed in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade , was also present at
26400-456: The final assault began in the evening of 26 May and continued to the next day. For 36 hours after the war council decided to attack, the Ottomans extensively mobilized their manpower for the general offensive. Prayer and resting was then granted to the soldiers on 28 May before the final assault would be launched. On the Byzantine side, a small Venetian fleet of 12 ships, after having searched
26600-433: The final assault, Mehmed had an artillery train of 70 large pieces dragged from his headquarters at Edirne, in addition to the bombards cast on the spot. This train included Orban's enormous cannon, which was said to have been dragged from Edirne by a crew of 60 oxen and over 400 men. There was another large bombard, independently built by Turkish engineer Saruca, that was also used in the battle. Mehmed planned to attack
26800-417: The first Hagia Sophia was built on the site of an ancient pagan temple, although there are no artefacts to confirm this. The Patriarch of Constantinople John Chrysostom came into a conflict with Empress Aelia Eudoxia , wife of the emperor Arcadius ( r. 383–408 ), and was sent into exile on 20 June 404. During the subsequent riots, this first church was largely burnt down. Palladius noted that
27000-709: The former sieges of Constantinople by the Avar Khaganate and the Umayyad Caliphate . According to Nestor Iskander's Tale on the Taking of Tsargrad , the Hagia Sophia was the focus of an alarming omen interpreted as the Holy Spirit abandoning Constantinople on 21 May 1453, in the final days of the Siege of Constantinople. The sky lit up, illuminating the city, and "many people gathered and saw on
27200-472: The former cathedral Hagia Irene is referred to as Ecclesia Antiqua , 'Old Church'. At the time of Socrates of Constantinople around 440, "both churches [were] enclosed by a single wall and served by the same clergy". Thus, the complex would have encompassed a large area including the future site of the Hospital of Samson . If the fire of 404 destroyed only the 4th-century main basilica church, then
27400-416: The foundation had significant structural problems. This restoration established a cross-domed plan on the gallery level while still being able to keep the original basilica plan at the ground level. The narthex can be found to the west, preceded by the atrium, and then the apse on the east side. Hagia Irene still has its dome and has peaked roofs on the north, west, and south sides of the church. The dome itself
27600-450: The hands of the Turks as Ottoman possessions. The Emperor was not willing to leave the city without a fight: As to surrendering the city to you, it is not for me to decide or for anyone else of its citizens; for all of us have reached the mutual decision to die of our own free will, without any regard for our lives. Around this time, Mehmed had a final council with his senior officers. Here he encountered some resistance; one of his Viziers,
27800-491: The hill, directly into the Golden Horn on 22 April, bypassing the chain barrier. This action seriously threatened the flow of supplies from Genoese ships from the nominally neutral colony of Pera and it demoralized the Byzantine defenders. On the night of 28 April, an attempt was made to destroy the Ottoman ships already in the Golden Horn using fire ships but the Ottomans forced the Christians to retreat with many casualties. Forty Italians escaped their sinking ships and swam to
28000-481: The idea that Constantinople was inevitably doomed is incorrect and the situation was not as one-sided as a simple glance at a map might suggest. It has also been claimed that Constantinople was "the best-defended city in Europe" at that time. At the beginning of the siege, Mehmed sent out some of his best troops to reduce the remaining Byzantine strongholds outside the city of Constantinople. The fortress of Therapia on
28200-510: The impending siege of Constantinople. Karaca Pasha , the beylerbeyi of Rumelia , sent men to prepare the roads from Adrianople to Constantinople so that bridges could cope with the massive cannons. Fifty carpenters and 200 artisans also strengthened the roads where necessary. The Greek historian Michael Critobulus quotes Mehmed II 's speech to his soldiers before the siege: My friends and men of my empire! You all know very well that our forefathers secured this kingdom that we now hold at
28400-524: The initial assault, the Ottoman army fanned out along the main thoroughfare of the city, the Mese, past the great forums and the Church of the Holy Apostles , which Mehmed II wanted to provide as a seat for his newly appointed patriarch to better control his Christian subjects. Mehmed II had sent an advance guard to protect these key buildings. The Catalans that maintained their position on the section of
28600-415: The interlocutor, upon being told by the saint that Constantinople will be sunk in a flood and that "the waters as they gush forth will irresistibly deluge her and cover her and surrender her to the terrifying and immense sea of the abyss", says "some people say that the Great Church of God will not be submerged with the city but will be suspended in the air by an invisible power". The reply is given that "When
28800-464: The kingdom, together with the sword, to some insignificant, poor, and humble man who would happen to be standing by the Column. He would say to him: "Take this sword and avenge the Lord's people." Then the Turks would be turned back, would be massacred by the pursuing Romans, and would be ejected from the city and from all places in the west and the east and would be driven as far as the borders of Persia, to
29000-408: The land walls and one near the Church of the Holy Apostles , under the command of Loukas Notaras and Nicephorus Palaeologus, respectively. The Venetian Alviso Diedo commanded the ships in the harbour. Although the Byzantines also had cannons, the weapons were much smaller than those of the Ottomans, and the recoil tended to damage their own walls. According to David Nicolle , despite many odds,
29200-441: The late 5th-century Column of Leo . A large lintel of the skeuophylakion 's western entrance – bricked up during the Ottoman era – was discovered inside the rotunda when it was archaeologically cleared to its foundations in 1979, during which time the brickwork was also repointed . The skeuophylakion was again restored in 2014 by the Vakıflar . A fire started during the tumult of the Nika Revolt , which had begun nearby in
29400-416: The loot they could get from raiding the city's houses, so they decided to attack the city instead. The Venetian captain ordered his men to break open the gate of the Golden Horn. Having done so, the Venetians left in ships filled with soldiers and refugees. Shortly after the Venetians left, a few Genoese ships and even the Emperor's ships followed them out of the Golden Horn. This fleet narrowly escaped prior to
29600-416: The military supremacy of the Islamic caliphate over the Christian empire. In Niccolò Barbaro 's account of the fall of the city in 1453, the Justinianic monument was interpreted in the last days of the siege as representing the city's founder Constantine the Great, indicating "this is the way my conqueror will come". According to Laonicus Chalcocondyles , Hagia Sophia was a refuge for the population during
29800-436: The mines and kill the miners. The Byzantines intercepted the first tunnel on the night of 16 May. Subsequent tunnels were interrupted on 21, 23 and 25 May, and destroyed with Greek fire and vigorous combat. On 23 May, the Byzantines captured and tortured two Turkish officers, who revealed the location of all the Turkish tunnels, which were destroyed. On 21 May, Mehmed sent an ambassador to Constantinople and offered to lift
30000-401: The morale of the defenders and caused embarrassment to the Sultan. Baltoghlu was most likely injured in the eye during the skirmish. Mehmed stripped Baltoghlu of his wealth and property and gave it to the janissaries and ordered him to be whipped 100 times. Mehmed ordered the construction of a road of greased logs across Galata on the north side of the Golden Horn and dragged his ships over
30200-401: The most advanced defensive systems in the world at the time. However, these fortifications were overcome with the use of gunpowder , specifically from Ottoman cannons and bombards , heralding a change in siege warfare. The Ottoman cannons repeatedly fired massive cannonballs weighing 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) over 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) which created gaps in the Theodosian Walls for
30400-433: The northern shore. On orders of Mehmed, they were impaled on stakes, in sight of the city's defenders on the sea walls across the Golden Horn. In retaliation, the defenders brought their Ottoman prisoners, 260 in all, to the walls, where they were executed, one by one, before the eyes of the Ottomans. With the failure of their attack on the Ottoman vessels, the defenders were forced to disperse part of their forces to defend
30600-410: The patriarch. Early in the 10th century, the pagan ruler of the Kievan Rus' sent emissaries to his neighbors to learn about Judaism, Islam, and Roman and Orthodox Christianity. After visiting Hagia Sophia his emissaries reported back: "We were led into a place where they serve their God, and we did not know where we were, in heaven or on earth." In the 940s or 950s, probably around 954 or 955, after
30800-407: The poor and sick, and Justinian endowed it with regular funds to keep it running. A similar endeavor happened earlier under Constantine, where he built several churches in the easternmost portions of his empire as part of a good-will project that not only included the building of architectural works, but charity to the poor as well. After the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed II , the church
31000-409: The reign of Justinian and spends a significant amount of time in the article how Justinian wanted almost every aspect of the Byzantine State to reflect Christianity, and paraphrases historian Averil Cameron’s description of Justinian’s rebuilding of Constantinople as the unification of the political and religious ceremonial. Work from other scholars keep in line with the idea of continuity, but some of
31200-409: The remainder of the Byzantine Empire splintered into a number of successor states, notably Nicaea , Epirus and Trebizond . They fought as allies against the Latin establishments, but also fought among themselves for the Byzantine throne. The Nicaeans eventually reconquered Constantinople from the Latins in 1261, reestablishing the Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty . Thereafter, there
31400-421: The restorations and had its interior decorated with mosaics and frescoes . Some restorations from this time have survived to the present. Throughout the history of the Roman Empire, emperors were often away from the seat of power for extended periods of time. However, a trend was being established near the end of the Late-Antiquity period of Rome and into the early Byzantine period that saw emperors remaining at
31600-437: The riot just several years after Justinian’s initiation of a widespread crackdown on religious dissent). The rebuilt Hagia Irene was constructed as part of Justinian’s massive architectural project that was happening across the empire, and the design of the church was based on the emerging “centrally-planned” design of churches that was becoming more and more standardized. Additionally, the church had hospices added to it to service
31800-456: The sea walls along the Golden Horn. The Ottoman army had made several frontal assaults on the land wall of Constantinople, but they were costly failures. Venetian surgeon Niccolò Barbaro , describing in his diary one such land attack by the Janissaries, wrote They found the Turks coming right up under the walls and seeking battle, particularly the Janissaries ... and when one or two of them were killed, at once more Turks came and took away
32000-421: The siege if they gave him the city. He promised he would allow the Emperor and any other inhabitants to leave with their possessions. He would recognize the Emperor as governor of the Peloponnese. Lastly, he guaranteed the safety of the population that might choose to remain in the city. Constantine XI only agreed to pay higher tributes to the sultan and recognized the status of all the conquered castles and lands in
32200-414: The siege until the possible arrival of foreign help. This strategy was used because in 1204, the armies of the Fourth Crusade successfully circumvented Constantinople's land defences by breaching the Golden Horn Wall , which faces the Horn. Another strategy employed by the Byzantines was the repair and fortification of the Land Wall ( Theodosian Walls ). Emperor Constantine deemed it necessary to ensure that
32400-485: The siege, he was shifted to the Mesoteichion to join Constantine, leaving the Myriandrion to the charge of the Bocchiardi brothers. Girolamo Minotto [ el ; es ; fr ; it ] and his Venetians were stationed in the Blachernae Palace , together with Teodoro Caristo, the Langasco brothers, and Archbishop Leonardo of Chios . To the left of the emperor, further south, were the commanders Cataneo, who led Genoese troops, and Theophilus Palaeologus, who guarded
32600-399: The siege, while according to a Venetian Senate report, 50 Venetian noblemen and over 500 other Venetian civilians died during the siege. Many of the riches of the city were already looted in 1204 , leaving only limited loot to the Ottomans. Other sources claim far more brutal and successful pillaging by the Ottoman invaders. Leonard of Chios made accounts of the atrocities that followed
32800-501: The site a mosque; proponents of the decision argued the Hagia Sophia was the personal property of the sultan. The decision to designate Hagia Sophia as a mosque was highly controversial. It resulted in divided opinions and drew condemnation from the Turkish opposition, UNESCO , the World Council of Churches and the International Association of Byzantine Studies , as well as numerous international leaders, while several Muslim leaders in Turkey and other countries welcomed its conversion into
33000-407: The slave markets. Ottoman casualties are unknown but they are believed by most historians to be severe due to several unsuccessful Ottoman attacks made during the siege and final assault. The Venetian Barbaro observed that blood flowed in the city "like rainwater in the gutters after a sudden storm" and that bodies of Turks and Christians floated in the sea "like melons along a canal". According to
33200-494: The state religion. Back during Rome’s status as a unified empire, architecture as manifestations of state power was used extensively, and can be seen primarily through triumphal arches, which were often placed at areas where Rome achieved great victories. Information put forward by author Jelena Bogdanovic in her article “The Relational Spiritual Geopolitics of Constantinople, the Capital of the Byzantine Empire” may highlight some continuity with this tradition. Emperor Constantine had
33400-412: The steps outside the atrium of the Constantinian Old St Peter's Basilica in Rome. Near the staircase, there was a cistern, perhaps to supply a fountain in the atrium or for worshippers to wash with before entering. The 4th-century skeuophylakion was replaced in the 5th century by the present-day structure, a rotunda constructed of banded masonry in the lower two levels and of plain brick masonry in
33600-413: The subsequent Sack of Constantinople in 1204, the church was further ransacked and desecrated by the Crusaders, as described by Choniates, though he did not witness the events in person. According to his account, composed at the court of the rump Empire of Nicaea , Hagia Sophia was stripped of its remaining metal ornaments, its altar was smashed into pieces, and a "woman laden with sins" sang and danced on
33800-406: The third. Originally this rotunda, probably employed as a treasury for liturgical objects, had a second-floor internal gallery accessed by an external spiral staircase and two levels of niches for storage. A further row of windows with marble window frames on the third level remain bricked up. The gallery was supported on monumental consoles with carved acanthus designs, similar to those used on
34000-432: The time on the coast of the Black Sea . When Mehmed II succeeded his father in 1451, he was 19 years old. Many European courts assumed that the young Ottoman ruler would not seriously challenge Christian hegemony in the Balkans and the Aegean . In fact, Europe celebrated Mehmed coming to the throne and hoped his inexperience would lead the Ottomans astray. This calculation was boosted by Mehmed's friendly overtures to
34200-407: The titles zōstē patrikía and the styles of archontissa and hegemon of the Rus'. Her baptism was an important step towards the Christianization of the Kievan Rus' , though the emperor's treatment of her visit in De caerimoniis does not mention baptism. Olga is deemed a saint and equal-to-the-apostles ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : ἰσαπόστολος , translit. isapóstolos ) in
34400-443: The veteran Halil Pasha , who had always disapproved of Mehmed's plans to conquer the city, now admonished him to abandon the siege in the face of recent adversity. Zagan Pasha argued against Halil Pasha and insisted on an immediate attack. Believing that the Byzantine defence was already weakened sufficiently, Mehmed planned to overpower the walls by sheer force and started preparations for a final all-out offensive. Preparations for
34600-458: The wall that the emperor had assigned them, had the honor of being the last troops to fall. The sultan had Pere Julià, his sons and the consul Joan de la Via, amongst others, beheaded. A few civilians managed to escape. When the Venetians retreated over to their ships, the Ottomans had already taken the walls of the Golden Horn. Luckily for the occupants of the city, the Ottomans were not interested in killing potentially valuable slaves but rather in
34800-438: The walls in their entirety, it had been decided that only the outer walls would be guarded. Constantine and his Greek troops guarded the Mesoteichion , the middle section of the land walls, where they were crossed by the river Lycus. This section was considered the weakest spot in the walls and an attack was feared here most. Giustiniani was stationed to the north of the emperor, at the Charisian Gate ( Myriandrion ); later during
35000-439: The walls were the first to suffer from the Ottomans. It is said that Constantine, throwing aside his purple imperial regalia, led the final charge against the incoming Ottomans, perishing in the ensuing battle in the streets alongside his soldiers. The Venetian Nicolò Barbaro claimed in his diary that Constantine hanged himself at the moment when the Turks broke in at the San Romano gate. Ultimately, his fate remains unknown. After
35200-408: The walls. After these inconclusive attacks, the Ottomans sought to break through the walls by constructing tunnels to mine them from mid-May to 25 May. Many of the sappers were miners of Serbian origin sent from Novo Brdo under the command of Zagan Pasha . An engineer named Johannes Grant , a German who came with the Genoese contingent, had counter-mines dug, allowing Byzantine troops to enter
35400-401: The western Catholic and eastern Orthodox Churches as decided at the Council of Florence and decreed by the papal bull Laetentur Caeli , though it would be short-lived. The union was unpopular among the Byzantines, who had already expelled the Patriarch of Constantinople, Gregory III , for his pro-union stance. A new patriarch was not installed until after the Ottoman conquest. According to
35600-405: The whole city sinks into the sea, how can the Great Church remain? Who will need her? Do you think God dwells in temples made with hands?" The Column of Constantine , however, is prophesied to endure. From the time of Procopius in the reign of Justinian, the equestrian imperial statue on the Column of Justinian in the Augustaion beside Hagia Sophia, which gestured towards Asia with right hand,
35800-521: The world's largest cathedral for nearly a thousand years, until the Seville Cathedral was completed in 1520. Beginning with subsequent Byzantine architecture, Hagia Sophia became the paradigmatic Orthodox church form , and its architectural style was emulated by Ottoman mosques a thousand years later. It has been described as "holding a unique position in the Christian world " and as an architectural and cultural icon of Byzantine and Eastern Orthodox civilization. The religious and spiritual centre of
36000-443: The world's largest interior space and among the first to employ a fully pendentive dome. It is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to have "changed the history of architecture". The present Justinianic building was the third church of the same name to occupy the site, as the prior one had been destroyed in the Nika riots . As the episcopal see of the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople , it remained
36200-450: Was abandoned for fear of harming the structural integrity of the Justinianic building, but parts of the excavation trenches remain uncovered, laying bare the foundations of the Theodosian building. The basilica was built by architect Rufinus. The church's main entrance, which may have had gilded doors, faced west, and there was an additional entrance to the east. There was a central pulpit and likely an upper gallery, possibly employed as
36400-432: Was built next to the area where the Great Palace was being developed. According to the 5th-century ecclesiastical historian Socrates of Constantinople , the emperor Constantius had c. 346 "constructed the Great Church alongside that called Irene which because it was too small, the emperor's father [Constantine] had enlarged and beautified". A tradition which is not older than the 7th or 8th century reports that
36600-585: Was clad in stucco that was tinted yellow and red during the 19th-century restorations by the Fossati architects. The construction is described by Procopius in On Buildings ( Greek : Περὶ κτισμάτων , romanized : Peri ktismatōn , Latin: De aedificiis ). Columns and other marble elements were imported from throughout the Mediterranean, although the columns were once thought to be spoils from cities such as Rome and Ephesus. Even though they were made specifically for Hagia Sophia, they vary in size. More than ten thousand people were employed during
36800-483: Was closed to the public for four years. It was re-opened in 1935 as a museum under the secular Republic of Turkey, and the building was Turkey's most visited tourist attraction as of 2019 . In July 2020, the Council of State annulled the 1934 decision to establish the museum, and the Hagia Sophia was reclassified as a mosque. The 1934 decree was ruled to be unlawful under both Ottoman and Turkish law as Hagia Sophia's waqf , endowed by Sultan Mehmed, had designated
37000-447: Was completed in 360 under Constantius II . During the Nika revolt in 532, Hagia Irene was burned down. In the wake of the riots, Emperor Justinian I , who had almost been deposed during the riot, had the church rebuilt in 548 as part of a widespread architectural project. It was then damaged again by the 740 Constantinople earthquake on October 20, 740, about six months before the death of Leo III . The Emperor Constantine V ordered
37200-405: Was crowned emperor on 16 May 1204 in Hagia Sophia in a ceremony which closely followed Byzantine practices. Enrico Dandolo , the Doge of Venice who commanded the sack and invasion of the city by the Latin Crusaders in 1204, is buried inside the church, probably in the upper eastern gallery . In the 19th century, an Italian restoration team placed a cenotaph marker, frequently mistaken as being
37400-452: Was destined to be transformed. So the whole church at that time lay a charred mass of ruins. On 23 February 532, only a few weeks after the destruction of the second basilica, Emperor Justinian I inaugurated the construction of a third and entirely different basilica, larger and more majestic than its predecessors. Justinian appointed two architects, mathematician Anthemius of Tralles and geometer and engineer Isidore of Miletus , to design
37600-471: Was discovered before 1946, and the remnants of a brick wall with traces of marble revetment were identified in 2004. The hypogeum was a tomb which may have been part of the 4th-century church or may have been from the pre-Constantinian city of Byzantium . The skeuophylakion is said by Palladius to have had a circular floor plan, and since some U-shaped basilicas in Rome were funerary churches with attached circular mausolea (the Mausoleum of Constantina and
37800-443: Was enclosed inside the walls of the Topkapi palace. The Janissaries used the church as an arsenal ( Cebehane ) until 1826. It was also used as a warehouse for military equipment and repository for trophies of arms and military regalia taken by the Turks. During the reign of Sultan Ahmet III (1703–1730) it was converted into the National Military Museum in 1726. In 1846, Marshal of the Imperial Arsenal, Ahmed Fethi Paşa , made
38000-439: Was forced to supply as part of his obligation to the Ottoman sultan — just a few months before, Branković had supplied the money for the reconstruction of the walls of Constantinople. Contemporaneous Western witnesses of the siege, who tend to exaggerate the military power of the Sultan, provide disparate and higher numbers ranging from 160,000 to 300,000 ( Niccolò Barbaro : 160,000; the Florentine merchant Jacopo Tedaldi and
38200-475: Was in Constantinople working for the Emperor, was also guarding one of the quarters of the city on the seaward side with the Turks in his pay. These Turks kept loyal to the Emperor and perished in the ensuing battle. The defending army's Genoese corps were well trained and equipped, while the rest of the army consisted of small numbers of well-trained soldiers, armed civilians, sailors and volunteer forces from foreign communities, and finally monks . The garrison used
38400-441: Was little peace for the much-weakened empire as it fended off successive attacks by the Latins , Serbs , Bulgarians and Ottoman Turks . Between 1346 and 1349, the Black Death killed almost half of the inhabitants of Constantinople. The city was further depopulated by the general economic and territorial decline of the empire, and by 1453 , it consisted of a series of walled villages separated by vast fields encircled by
38600-482: Was perhaps St Elmo's fire induced by gunpowder smoke and unusual weather. The author relates that the fall of the city to "Mohammadenism" was foretold in an omen seen by Constantine the Great – an eagle fighting with a snake – which also signified that "in the end Christianity will overpower Mohammedanism, will receive the Seven Hills , and will be enthroned in it". The eventual fall of Constantinople had long been predicted in apocalyptic literature . A reference to
38800-431: Was razed during the Nika Revolt. There was an apparent rivalry between Justinian and noblewoman Ancinia Juliana, who was a patron of the Hagia Polyeuktos church. The Hagia Polyeuktos Church was one of the most opulent churches in the Byzantine Empire before the Hagia Sophia’s reconstruction, and it even boasted a commemorative plaque that featured text that could be construed as a challenge to Justinian. When Justinian entered
39000-413: Was replaced by 1325, but while it was still in place around 1412, by the time Johann Schiltberger saw the statue in 1427, the "empire-apple" ( German : Reichsapfel ) had fallen to the earth. An attempt to raise it again in 1435 failed, and this amplified the prophecies of the city's fall. For the Turks, the "red apple" ( Turkish : kızıl elma ) came to symbolize Constantinople itself and subsequently
39200-407: Was supposed to presage the end of the reign of Andronicus I Comnenus ( r. 1183–1185 ). Choniates further writes that in 1203, during the Fourth Crusade , the emperors Isaac II Angelus and Alexius IV Angelus stripped Hagia Sophia of all gold ornaments and silver oil-lamps in order to pay off the Crusaders who had ousted Alexius III Angelus and helped Isaac return to the throne. Upon
39400-405: Was the bishop of Constantinople from 339 to 341, and Constantine died in 337, it seems that the first church was erected by Constantius. 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 major churches in the city-centre before the late 4th century. Rowland Mainstone argued
39600-429: Was the seat of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and a principal setting for Byzantine imperial ceremonies, such as coronations . The basilica offered sanctuary from persecution to criminals, although there was disagreement about whether Justinian had intended for murderers to be eligible for asylum. Earthquakes in August 553 and on 14 December 557 caused cracks in the main dome and eastern semi-dome . According to
39800-449: Was thought by the original excavators in the 1930s to be part of the western entrance of the church itself. The propylaeum opened onto an atrium which lay in front of the basilica church itself. Preceding the propylaeum was a steep monumental staircase following the contours of the ground as it sloped away westwards in the direction of the Strategion , the Basilica, and the harbours of the Golden Horn . This arrangement would have resembled
40000-420: Was understood to represent the emperor holding back the threat to the Romans from the Sasanian Empire in the Roman–Persian Wars , while the orb or globus cruciger held in the statue's left was an expression of the global power of the Roman emperor. Subsequently, in the Arab–Byzantine wars , the threat held back by the statue became the Umayyad Caliphate , and later, the statue was thought to be fending off
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