Hagia Sophia is the jewel of Byzantine architecture and the pearl of the historic city
Last Updated: 2023-07-27Hagia Sophia Mosque
Hagia Sophia Mosque. A unique architectural masterpiece that sits on a hill at the confluence of the Bosphorus with the Gulf of the Golden Horn in the famous Sultanahmet Square,
Next to the Topkapi Palace is the seat of the Ottoman sultans.
The construction of Hagia Sophia in its current form began on the ruins of the Megali Ecclesia Church, by order of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 532 AD, and ended in 537 AD, making it the largest church on earth at the time.
Hagia Sophia is considered the jewel of Byzantine architecture, as it reflected the material and cultural richness that the country was experiencing at that time, which is considered its golden age, until it was said that humanity had not seen such an edifice before that time,
To Justinian's fascination with it, he called it "Hagia Sophia", which in Greek means "divine wisdom".
This church remained the center of Orthodox Christianity, and the scene of the coronation of the Byzantine emperors,
In the Ottoman era, the ceremony witnessed the abdication of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutawakkil III from the caliphate to Sultan Selim I and the transfer of the caliphate from the Abbasids to the Ottomans.
Building Hagia Sophia:
More than 10,000 workers participated in the construction work, under the supervision of the famous Byzantine engineer Isidore Al-Malaty.
Building stones were brought from various parts of the empire, from Egypt, Baalbek, Sparta, Athens, and Rome, to the cost of 360 million gold francs to build.
The area of Hagia Sophia reached 7.500 square meters, as its length is 100 meters, its width is 70 meters, and its height is up to 48 meters, and the height of its dome is 55 meters.
The main building is based on 4 huge columns of green marble, and the mosque has 40 windows and 9 main doors.
It has 107 columns, 67 on the top floor and 40 on the lower floor, the longest of which is 20 meters, 1.5 meters in diameter, and weighs 70 tons, all of which are older than Hagia Sophia.
As for the dome of the mosque, it is elliptical and not spherical as it is believed, as it has bended as a result of the earthquakes that the building was subjected to, meaning that it has two diameters, one 30.8 meters, and the other 32.6 meters.
The Hagia Sophia Mosque belongs to the Roman basilica architecture, which is the peak of what Byzantine architecture reached at that time, it is rectangular in shape consisting of 3 sections with a dome in the middle of its roof from the top that is placed on a square part of it, and the building consists of a large hall in the middle of two side halls, the main building is preceded by a heavenly space surrounded by a long portico leading to the side halls, from which it enters the main hall.
The inner walls of the building are covered with multicolored marble panels, the ceilings are decorated with Christian drawings of fresco and mosaics, and the column heads are painted white and decorated with ebony trees and palm leaves, and some are covered with gold and do not resemble others.
After the Islamic conquest of the city, the drawings were covered with layers of plaster and painted over them Islamic decorations in Arabic calligraphy, and the walls were decorated with eight large paintings with a diameter of 7.5 meters each, each of which was written the word Majesty and the name of the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, and the names of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, Hassan and Hussein.
It is also said that under the Hagia Sophia mosque is a network of tunnels up to 70 meters deep, this is what a team of researchers has reached.
Hagia Sophia's transformations:
Hagia Sophia has undergone several historical transformations during the 15th centuries, it has shifted from:
- Byzantine Christian cathedral (537–1054)
- Greek Orthodox cathedral (1054–1204)
- Roman Catholicism (1204–1261)
- Roman Orthodox cathedral (1261–1453)
- Ottoman Mosque (1453–1934)
- Museum (1934–2020)
- Mosque as of 10 July 2020
Hagia Sophia historically:
Hagia Sophia was built on the ruins of two previous churches, the first is the church of "Constantius II", where it was built by a unified Arisian Christian cleric named "Okodokios" and it was inaugurated on February 15, 360 AD, then it was subjected to a huge fire, so it was rebuilt and expanded after the fire to include an external courtyard, and its opening was in 415 AD during the rule of Theodosius In 532 AD, the building burned again in the Nicaean rebellion or the Nicaean Revolution at the time of Justinian, which was the result of the adoption of several laws and taxes in favor of one of two groups or groups whose members are accused of ministers and nobles in administrative corruption cases, which led to fighting between the two parties, which killed tens of thousands of victims and burned many buildings.
After the end of the rebellion in the same year 532 AD, and the recapture of the empire by Justinian, he wanted to restore the love of the people after these unjust decisions and the chaos that followed, so he ordered the construction of a church on the ruins of the church "Megaly Aclicia", which was opened in 537 AD.
9 months after its opening, it suffered a partial collapse in its main dome as a result of an earthquake that struck Constantinople, followed by two partial collapses in the eastern part, which prompted Justinian to restore it again and enlarge the dome, and thus restructure its external courtyard to suit the new foundations.
But the plight suffered by Hagia Sophia and the whole city remains the Latin-Catholic Crusader invasion in 1204 AD, during the Fourth Crusade on the East, where the Crusaders abused the people of Constantinople, destroyed its homes, destroyed Hagia Sophia and disrupted it for a period of time until the Byzantine Orthodox were able to expel the Catholic crusader invaders from the city and tighten their control over it in 1261 AD after 57 years of oppression and looting.
The Latin occupation of the city of Constantinople left negative effects in the hearts of the Byzantines that time could not erase from their memory, for example, before the Islamic conquest of the city, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine tried to unite the Eastern Orthodox Churches with the Western Catholic Church, but he faced strong opposition from the Orthodox clergy and parish so that their greatest bishop said, "The vision of the Ottoman turbans ruling the city is more dear to me than the Catholic hats."
This is because of the cruelty and oppression they saw from the Crusaders, and the mercy and justice of the Muslims.
Hagia Sophia was suffering from devastation and demolition as a result of successive earthquakes and political crises, and because it had not undergone a real restoration that brought it back to its former state, it was in the worst condition.
Two centuries later, the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople came an important historical event, which changed the course of history and the state of the city and Hagia Sophia forever, and was a point of civilizational, moral, political, and economic transformation in the history of the city , Europe and the whole world.
After the entry of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror to the city, he ordered the deployment of police and guards throughout the city to maintain security, protect the people, and property and prevent any abuses that may occur, and then went to Hagia Sophia, and the people of the city resorted to it for fear of their fate after the conquest , as Constantinople did not surrender, but the Muslims entered it by force, and the emperor did not take safety for the people of the city, and according to the laws recognized at that time, the people of the city are all by virtue of prisoners and their city is a booty for Muslims.
The Sultan entered the Hagia Sophia building and placed his banner on the site where the mihrab is currently located, then placed his arrow towards the dome, and prayed a prayer of thanks to God Almighty for the blessing of conquest, then preached to the people of the city and reassured them and their security on their lives, properties and places of worship.
After that, the Sultan set about organizing and reforming the affairs of the city and allowed the Roman subjects to elect a special bishop for themselves and for the Armenians as well to manage their affairs according to their beliefs.
The Sultan ordered to convert Hagia Sophia into a mosque and make the necessary preparations to hold the first Friday prayers after the conquest in it, so he preached and prayed the first Friday with people as an imam, and Hagia Sophia remained a mosque for nearly 481 years until 1934, when it was converted into a museum and July 10, 2020, it was converted into a mosque.
Hagia Sophia "Endowment of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror":
When the Sultan saw Hagia Sophia for the first time, he was saddened by the scale of destruction and devastation caused to him as a result of successive earthquakes and political crises, and then negligence and failure to carry out real restoration and repair work for him, so the conqueror Sultan improvised verses in Persian describing the situation of Hagia Sophia and the city, saying:
perdedari mikoned der kasr-ı kayzer ankebut
bum nevbet mizedend der târem-i efrâsiyâb
It means "spider weaving a curtain in Caesar's palace. and an owl guarded in the tower of Afrasiab."
The Sultan bought Hagia Sophia and the surrounding real estate, and ordered the start of repair and restoration work in it, so the drawings on the interior walls of the mosque were covered with a layer of plaster and the walls of the mosque were decorated with Islamic decorations and calligraphy, then he added to the mosque the mihrab, the pulpit, a sultan's cabin and another compartment for the muezzin,
He built next to the mosque a library, a school and a house to shelter and feed the poor and needy, and the building "Timer Hana" dedicated to conducting astronomical studies and setting prayer times and worship.
After 9 years of work, activity and effort, the city in general and Hagia Sophia in particular changed.
In 1462, the conqueror issued a royal decree and sealed it with his honorable seal, declaring that the Hagia Sophia complex (the Hagia Sophia Mosque and the surrounding buildings) was an endowment for all Muslims, which may not be replaced or changed, and later became known as the "Endowment of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror".
This royal decree was written on a suede patch and is still preserved in the archives of the Land Registry Directorate.
To date, the Hagia Sophia Mosque and its surroundings, according to the Real Estate Registry Archive in Istanbul, is registered as the "Fatih Sultan Mehmet Endowment"
In the later periods, some improvements and additions were added to the mosque, so a third minaret was built for it during the reign of Sultan Bayezid, son of Mehmed the Conqueror, and the fourth was built by the famous Ottoman architect Sinan by order of Sultan Selim II.
A place for ablution was also added to it in 1720, the time of Sultan Mahmud I.
The Hagia Sophia Mosque in the Ottoman era underwent many restoration and repair works to remove the effects of the damage caused to the mosque by earthquakes, so it was the last in 1826 AD, the time of Sultan Abdul Mecid, but it was a limited restoration due to the lack of financial resources in the state.
Did the conqueror Sultan have the right to turn Hagia Sophia into a mosque?
Yes, without a doubt, he has the freedom to act, according to Islamic law and general custom at that time, Constantinople was conquered by the sword and its people did not surrender or take safety for themselves, and this is undoubtedly historically fixed, and in this case the whole city belongs to the Sultan and he has the freedom to dispose of it.
Around that date, the Crusaders entered Andalusia and abused its people and expelled them and set up the Inquisition and turned the Great Mosque (Jama Mosque) in Cordoba into the Cathedral of Cordoba and erased its Islamic monuments despite the surrender of the people and the delivery of the city to the invaders peacefully and is still a cathedral and prevents the establishment of prayers for Muslims in it, which is the jewel of Andalusia and the largest mosque in Europe This is in Morocco, but in the East, in Greece there are more than 1.500 Islamic monuments between the mosque and the school and endowment All of them have been closed and most of them are converted into churches, while Armenia has turned the Islamic monuments into warehouses and animal pens.
As for the Hagia Sophia Mosque, the Sultan did not allow the construction to be harmed, although he opened the city with the sword and seized it, but he did not turn all the churches of Istanbul into mosques, moreover, according to the Turkish historian Professor "Ahmet Şimshirgil" and many other historians, he bought Hagia Sophia and the surrounding real estate from his own money and refused to do so from the house of money of Muslims.
Out of respect for the feelings of Christians, and in order to preserve that magnificent architectural heritage, he did not allow the destruction of paintings and paintings on the walls, but only covered them with a layer of plaster.
The Ottomans even wrote on their currency the word "Constantinople" and not Istanbul, because it was the word that appeared in the Prophet's word contained in the hadith of the Annunciation of the Conquest of Constantinople.
It is worth noting that no one of the Christian clergy or Christian subjects objected to the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque and not for fear of the Sultan, history has conveyed to us that the judge has ruled to cut off the hand of the Fatih Sultan when he complained to him Christian engineer cut off his hand for a mistake he made, even cried Christian engineer for the justice of the judge and the Sultan's compliance with the right, so he pardoned the Sultan.
How can such a just authority be feared by the rights holders, and should not be oppressed?
It may be said that the Christian people of the city feared oppression, and this is also not true, not the conqueror of the oppressor and not the cowardly Roman people of the city, the people of the city rose up against the unjust emperor when he tried to unite the church with the Catholics.
How to turn the Hagia Sophia into a museum:
In 1932, the mosque was closed for maintenance and restoration work, and with the permission of the Turkish government at the time, a team of American experts was allowed to conduct studies on the drawings and decorations on the walls of the Hagia Sophia Mosque, so they removed the paint placed by Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror on those drawings, and it was rumored among people that prayer is not permissible in the Hagia Sophia Mosque because of those drawings and paintings, and it cannot be legally closed because it is a world heritage. In 1934, a decision was issued by the Turkish government. The then President of the Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, approved the conversion of the Hagia Sophia Mosque into a museum.
Hagia Sophia Mosque Again:
Calls to officially return Hagia Sophia to its origin (mosque) began in 2005, in June of 2020, a call was filed to the Supreme Administrative Court in Turkey to consider the validity of the Turkish government's decision in 1934 to convert the Hagia Sophia Mosque into a museum, and after consultations and studies, the Supreme Administrative Court issued a ruling, invalidating the decree in which Hagia Sophia was converted into a museum, and the need to return the building to its origin as a mosque, and after the President of the Republic signed the decision, Hagia Sophia became a mosque. Officially.
Editorial Mersat Real Estate Team©
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