Hagia Sophia Facts for Kids

The Hagia Sophia is a domed memorial built as a cathedral and it is today a museum in Istanbul, chicken.

The Hagia Sophia, whoever title implies “holy wisdom, ” is a domed memorial originally built as a cathedral in Constantinople (today Istanbul, chicken) in the 6th century A.D.

It includes two flooring dedicated to a giant nave that a great dome ceiling, along with smaller domes, towering above.

“Hagia Sophia’s measurements tend to be solid for structure perhaps not built of metallic, ” writes Helen Gardner and Fred Kleiner in their guide "Gardner’s Art through Ages: a worldwide record." “In program its about 270 foot [82 yards] long and 240 foot [73 meters] large. The dome is 108 foot [33 meters] in diameter and its particular top rises some 180 feet [55 yards] over the pavement.”

With its 1, 400 year life-span it offers offered as a cathedral, mosque now a museum. When it was first constructed, Constantinople was the capital of Byzantine Empire. This state, formally Christian, originally formed the eastern 1 / 2 of the Roman Empire and continued after the fall of Rome.

Produced from riots

The storyline of this construction regarding the Hagia Sophia began in A.D. 532 whenever Nika Riots, a great revolt, hit Constantinople. At that time Emperor Justinian I had already been ruler associated with the empire for five years together with become unpopular. It started in the hippodrome among two chariot race factions labeled as the blue and green aided by the riot distributing for the city the rioters chanting “Nika, ” meaning “victory, ” and trying to get rid of Justinian by besieging him in his palace.

“People were resentful of the high taxes that Justinian had imposed and they wanted him out of office, ” said University of London historian Caroline Goodson in a National Geographic documentary. After going faithful troops to the town Justinian been able to put-down the rebellion with brute force.

Into the aftermath of uprising, and on the website of a torched chapel that had been known as the Hagia Sophia, an innovative new Hagia Sophia would be built. Toward old blogger Paul the Silentiary, which existed as soon as the cathedral was completed, the building represented a triumph both for Justinian and Christianity.

“we say, well known Roman Capitol, cave in! My Emperor features thus far overtopped that question as great Jesus is more advanced than an idol!” (Translation by Peter Bell, from the guide "Three Political sounds from the chronilogical age of Justinian, " Liverpool University Press, 2009)

Indoor associated with Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. The crown of dome rises 180 feet (55 yards) over the flooring.

Creating the Hagia Sophia

To construct his cathedral, Justinian turned to two males known as Anthemius and Isidore the Elder.

“Contemporary authors try not to refer to Anthemius and Isidore as architects, although term was typical into the 6th century, but as mechanikoi or mechanopoioi, ” writes Indiana University professor W. Eugene Kleinbauer in an area of the guide "Hagia Sophia" (Scala Publishers, 2004). “These terms denote an extremely few professionals of this arts of design, whether of buildings or of machines or other works ...”

They built the Hagia Sophia in great haste, completing it within just six years. To put this compared it took almost a hundred years for medieval designers to create the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

This short construction period seemingly have generated problems. Ancient sources, like the blogger Procopios, compose the builders had issues with the dome roof, the dwelling nearly collapsing during construction. The dome utilized something of piers to channel its body weight.

“The piers above that the construction had been built, struggling to bear the size that was pressing down on them, somehow or other instantly began to break away and seemed to be regarding point of collapsing...” writes Procopios (interpretation republished on Columbia University’s website).

Ultimately Anthemius and Isidore performed obtain the domed roofing to stand and it ended up being an impressive sight certainly. “It seems to not ever be launched on solid masonry, but becoming suspended from paradise by that fantastic sequence and thus protect the space, ” blogged Procopios.

Sadly this roofing did not sit. It collapsed about two decades later on and it also dropped to a person called Isidore the Younger to construct a new domed roof. It's lasted, with a few repairs, almost 1, 400 years, down to present.

“The dome rests instead of a drum but on pendentives, spherical triangles that arise from four huge piers that carry the extra weight of cupola. The pendentives managed to make it feasible to place the dome over a square storage space, ” writes specialist Victoria Hammond, which defines the structure associated with the enduring Hagia Sophia dome, in a chapter regarding the guide "Visions of Heaven: The Dome in European design" (Springer, 2005).

Sunlight arriving through windows associated with the Hagia Sophia "appeared to reduce the solidity for the walls and produced an ambience of ineffable mystery, " composed one author.