The Church of St Sophia

The Nika riots had done extensive damage in Constantinople with many of the public buildings along the Mese, the ceremonial concourse of the city, destroyed. Among the ruins was the great church of St Sophia, the Holy Wisdom, traditionally one of Constantine’s foundations and the church in which emperor and patriarch met on the major feast days of the church. Justinian was inspired to rebuild it in a form that would make it the most awe-inspiring church in Christendom, even if his apparent Christian commitment cannot be separated from his determination to exploit the chance to make a further impact as emperor. The rebuilt St Sophia still stands today, without doubt one of the great surviving buildings of antiquity (rivalled perhaps only by the Parthenon and Pantheon). Its centrepiece is a great dome rising from four massive piers joined by arches. In its final form the dome rises 55 metres above the ground (the first dome collapsed and a new one was dedicated in 563). The space over each pier between the arches is filled with spherical triangles on which the dome is supported. This left the space under the arches free on the east and west sides and two huge semi-domes were added to fill them. The eastern semi-dome was, in its turn, extended by semi-circular apses while the western one led to the vast entrance beyond which lay an open cloister. The north and south arches incorporated columned arcades at two levels. In antiquity the whole was covered with marble (some of which remains in the narthex) and mosaic.

There was no exact precedent for St Sophia. Some have seen Roman influences, the dome of the Pantheon combined with the hall of the great Basilica of Maxentius near the Forum (early fourth century), for instance. Others see precedents in Persia. The architects, Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus, a physicist who had made a special study of domes and vaults, were clearly expected to provide something original and Justinian himself took the closest interest in their design. Their method of basing the dome was new and became the most significant contribution of the Byzantines to structural engineering.

It was the sense of space and mystery, as well as overwhelming opulence, which gripped contemporaries such as Procopius, who described the dome as if it was suspended from heaven. Another early enthusiast, Paul the Silentiary, reflected on the glowing inner light of the building—‘the calm clear sky of joy lies open to all, driving away the dark-veiled mist of the soul. A Holy Light illuminates all.’ Even now that much of the decoration is lost the building retains its capacity to amaze. ‘Solomon, I have surpassed you,’ Justinian is reputed to have said, with some justification,

Fig. 13 Santa Sophia, Constantinople, built ad 532-7. The majesty and complexity of its design can be seen in this plan and section. Procopius described the great dome as giving the impression that it was suspended from heaven.

As he surveyed his achievement. Sinan, the greatest of the Ottoman architects, was

Haunted by its magnificence.

St Sophia was only one of a mass of churches built within Constantinople and across the empire by Justinian. It may not have been the most influential. The now destroyed Church of the Apostles in Constantinople, built as a cross with one dome in the centre and others on each arm of the cross, influenced the design of St Mark’s in Venice. Recent excavations of the earlier (520s) St Polyeuktos show that this prefigured the magnificence of St Sophia. Among the grand creations of the period are the Church of the Hundred Gates on the island of Paros, and a great church built by Theodora in Ephesus. Justinian’s other buildings varied between the use of the squared dome and the traditional basilica plan. The impressive monastery church, later known as St Catherine’s, following a legend that the body of the celebrated saint of Alexandria was taken there by angels after her martyrdom, set behind defensive walls at the foot of Mount Sinai, was a traditional basilica for instance, as were many smaller churches on the Syrian border. Not least of Justinian’s achievements was the completion of the church of San Vitalis in Ravenna (which in itself echoes his earlier Sts Sergius and Bacchus still standing in Constantinople), where the famous mosaic portraits of himself and Theodora surrounded by their retinues are among the church’s glories.