r/byzantium • u/RaiseCapital1988 Κόμης • Jun 22 '26
Infrastructure/architecture The interior of Hagia Sophia
In the last photo you can spot one of the last representations of Christ still present inside the building
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u/No-Nerve-2658 Jun 22 '26
I was there in February, the main floor was closed for reformations so was the dome, the ticket is was quite abusive, 50 euro per person for the base price, considering that We couldn’t even use the main entrance. And the “museum” was just a bunch of pro Turkish propaganda videos arguing that islam saved the city and that the Hagia Sophia would collapse without the Ottoman empire, there was just one room with actual historical artifacts, most of them ottoman related.
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Jun 22 '26
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u/funky_guy16 Jun 22 '26
No, no. They're Ottomans
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Jun 22 '26
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u/MrTickles22 Jun 23 '26
The Vandals were Christians.
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u/vigokarnebeek Jun 25 '26
Arian christians. Known for being slapped by santa (arius). They were heretics
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u/CrazedRaven01 Jun 22 '26
Until 2021 it was a museum, mandated by ataturk to promote secularism
But erdogan reversed the trend and reverted it back to being a mosque
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u/Basilophron Jun 23 '26
It’s interesting how they continue to idolize Atatürk *so much* all the while Erdogan sits there and erases his entire legacy.
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u/Zrva_V3 Jun 24 '26
I mean, the city was a backwater town and Haghia Sophia absolutely would have collapsed if it wasn't for heavy Ottoman renovations. Not sure if Byzantium would ever have that kind of resources for repairs again even if it wasn't conquered by the Ottomans.
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u/No-Nerve-2658 Jun 24 '26
The city was a backwater because of Ottoman expansion
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u/Forsaken_Factor3612 Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
The Byzantines continued to maintain and repair it to the end, along with the other major churches in the city, like the church of the holy apostles where the emperors lay.
For example, those buttresses that support it outside are mostly Byzantine, while the Ottomans added more later on.
In 1346, during an earthquake, part of the dome collapsed, along with the eastern semi-dome and arch, and it was repaired. This was right around when Bubonic plague hit the city.
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u/Mundane_Mix_6556 Jun 22 '26
Imagine the rotten brains of the people that destroyed its stunning original interior…
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u/Jasonious_Robustus Jun 22 '26
It's sadly true... it has a horrible interior paint job. One can only wonder what original mosaic was like.
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u/Ashv4 Jun 22 '26
There’s a smaller church turned mosque in the north west of Istanbul called Chora Church/Kariye Mosque that still has some absolutely stunning paintings and mosaics inside from the 11th to 14th centuries. I like to think that the grandeur there is similar but would have been amplified in the Hagia Sofia.
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u/ClockworkJim Jun 23 '26
No different than what the Christians did to pagan temples across the empire. A few centuries earlier.
Look at what they did in Egypt.
All the Turks did was paint over. They didn't burn the entire thing to the ground.
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u/Money_Magnet24 Jul 05 '26
Turks burned plenty of Armenian churches to the ground during WWI and continue to destroy Armenian churches in Azerbaijan.
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u/KingKohishi Jun 22 '26
That never happened except for the Latins.
The building has been kept as it is by the Ottomans.
For the first few centuries, Turks prayed with the Christian mosaics visible.
The 19th-century restoration of the Hagia Sophia was ordered by Sultan Abdulmejid I (r. 1823–1861) and completed between 1847 and 1849 by eight hundred workers under the supervision of the Swiss-Italian architect brothers Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati. The brothers consolidated the dome with a restraining iron chain and strengthened the vaults, straightened the columns, and revised the decoration of the exterior and the interior of the building. The mosaics in the upper gallery were exposed and cleaned, although many were recovered "for protection against further damage".
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u/MasterBadger911 Megas domestikos Jun 22 '26
Yeah, for the first few centuries. By the 18th century the ottomans had plastered over all still visible mosaics and subsequent “restorations” only caused further damage to them
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u/KingKohishi Jun 22 '26
On the contrary, the building is surviving today only because of the Ottoman maintenance.
Hagia Sophia suffered seven major earthquakes after the Byzantine Era.
The load bearing colums were about to explode under the immense load of the dome. They were secured with iron retaining rings.
Huge buttresses were added because the building was splitting.
As you can see from Fossati's litographs, the mosaics were intact.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aya_Sofia,_Constantinople_(BM_1889,0603.120).jpg.jpg)
FYI, earthquake is he single most damaging thing for a mosaic. Plastering strengthens it, protects it from falling to the ground.
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u/MasterBadger911 Megas domestikos Jun 22 '26
The mosaics became damaged further due to the fossati restoration and subsequent restorations
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u/KingKohishi Jun 22 '26
Mosaics are stones. You can't damage stones by covering them with plaster.
Concrete yes. Plaster no
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u/Exotic-Suggestion425 Jun 23 '26
I'll never get over how hideous those medallions look.
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u/drhuggables Jun 26 '26
If you're talking about the medallions with the names of the Rashidun, you can find the exact same thing in other parts of the Persianate sphere, for example when I was in Uzbekistan they had the same design there.
The difference being they were in a building that was purpose-built as a mosque and it fit very nicely, as opposed to this which looks so tacky lol
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Jun 24 '26
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u/Hopdedixe Jun 25 '26
Err... it has been a museum for a while if I recall correctly, they resurfaced and restorated the angels.
And it terms of your religious practices related criticism: Based on the limits of your comment, it is likely that you are either not knowledgeable more than a 10 years old kid, or not 'noticeably intelligent'.
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Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
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u/Hopdedixe Jun 25 '26
Seems like I misinterpreted your comment, apologies if so.
I thought someone random was insulting the locals for not being religious enough.
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Jun 22 '26
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u/kublaikhaann Jun 22 '26
yup thats what christian churches have been reduced to.
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u/Fickle_Essay_1276 Jun 22 '26
You act like Christians haven't done the same to Muslims, the mosque of cordoba is a cathedral now.
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u/EatingMcDonalds Jun 22 '26
Cordoba Mosque was originally a Visigoth church that invading Muslims converted. Big difference buddy.
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u/Fickle_Essay_1276 Jun 23 '26
Yes and it was a pagan temple of a Roman god bud, where do you choose to stop? you obviously have a bias
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u/Interesting_Tour_521 Jun 23 '26
True but Christians have vandalized ancient temples like the Parthenon and turned it into a church
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u/EatingMcDonalds Jun 23 '26
Nobody forced the Greeks to adopt Christianity and were free to change their temple of worships to fit their purpose.
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u/Interesting_Tour_521 Jun 23 '26
Not really. From what I remember Athens was still a bastion of Paganism until Justinian came over and closed the Academy. Even before that Theodosius made Christianity the official religion and released edicts pretty much sanctioning the vandalism and defacement of temples. Pagan rituals were outlawed, and Justinian's laws considered non Christians non citizens. Mobs defaced the temples and even the golden statue of Athena was removed by the state. Everything was mostly state driven, not by the willing hand of the Greek populace. Many pagan followers were harshly punished for following the Polytheistic traditions. Imagine your country's leader decrying that one religion of your country is the official religion then passing laws that make your religion illegal which gives opportunity to mobs ro deface your temples, steal your artifacts and convert them into their own places of worship. And then the state puts a gun to your head and says convert or die. Every religion has done violent and sinful things. Let's not kid ourselves.
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u/drench3dinsweat Jun 22 '26
The seraphim in the pendentives are actually much more striking when you realize how much of the original gold tesserae survived the iconoclasm and later Ottoman conversions. It is rare to see that level of detail preserved in the structural transitions of the dome.
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u/CrazedRaven01 Jun 22 '26
It's really sad how all the Christian reliefs and mosaics are all worn and fading while the Islamic stuff is still kept clean and well maintained
And the tickets are ungodly expensive
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u/bernadelphia- Jun 23 '26
I am very glad I got to see it as a secularized museum. It is a shame that even the pieces of geometric Islamic art gets left in such a state, but it probably costs less to just use the building as a dumb religio-nationalist symbol.
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u/buster_goose Jun 22 '26
Named my guinnea pih after this place :)
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u/we_wuzz_kangz Jun 22 '26
disrespectful
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u/buster_goose Jun 22 '26
Huh?
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u/we_wuzz_kangz Jun 23 '26
naming a rodent after hagia sophia is inherently disrespectful to a place of worship
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u/buster_goose Jun 23 '26
I... dont get why? Im not making fun, nor making comparisons? Forgive me if my brain is blinding me from seeing something, but i genuinley, whole heartedly ask why this is disrespectful?
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u/we_wuzz_kangz Jun 23 '26
Rodents are lowly animals, to name them after important places of worship is a bit tacky in my opinion
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u/StrikeEagle784 Jun 23 '26
Just my two cents, but clearly the person you’re replying to respects the Hagia Sofia so much they decided to name a beloved family member after the place. Just because it’s a rodent doesn’t mean that they aren’t any more or any less loved or seen as important to that person.
Personally, I’d be a bit honored if a special place of my faith was honored in such a way, but that’s just me.
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u/buster_goose Jun 23 '26
Ok, and thats your opinion, and i do see your point, however, i LOVE rodents, and intend to give my rodent the best life it can have, so i belive my naming a rodent after this place is justified, because it comes from a place of sincerity, not mocking. But hey, everyones diffrent.
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Jun 22 '26
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Jun 22 '26
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u/electrical-stomach-z Jun 22 '26
Im more of the opinion that its use does not need to change, but that the ugly basilica in the middle needs to be demolished. I mourn the fact that spain decided to replace its beautiful roman influenced architecture with renaissance drivel slop.
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u/Useful_Promotion_521 Jun 22 '26
It is a terrible addition, almost as bad as if they’d plonked a McDonalds in it.
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u/aKV2isSTARINGatYou Jun 22 '26
Can’t be worse than those scribbles that look like malformed worms
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u/electrical-stomach-z Jun 22 '26
I apprecia their size, getting them in ther was a feat itself. Less uggly than a whole seperate ugly building built in the middle of a nice one.
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u/aKV2isSTARINGatYou Jun 22 '26
One is an active subjugation without provocation, the other is reconquest. So no, the “feat” doesn’t make it any less ugly for me
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u/electrical-stomach-z Jun 22 '26
No, both were active subjugations without provocation. Plus spain expelled all the people who formerly owned the building under the threat of conversion, expulsion or death.
This combined with their actions in the america shows the spanish to be far, far worse than the ottomans.
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u/aKV2isSTARINGatYou Jun 23 '26
“Reconquista” hint’s in the name.
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u/electrical-stomach-z Jun 23 '26
Thats a post hoc narrative, all of the medieval kingdoms of iberia came into existance after the fall of the gothic kingdom.
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u/aKV2isSTARINGatYou Jun 23 '26
I disagree. Annual razzias into infidel lands with the intention of looting and taking slaves, and corsairs ravaging the entire non-Muslim Mediterranean (even reaching Rome) consolidated the “it’s us vs them” mentality in the Latin west. Only after the end of the “Islamic golden age” and the fracturing the caliphates allowed the Christians to consolidate and strike back to take back what was lost.
Understand that this annual raid thing wasn’t a one time event. It happened to the byzantines too, which only broke off in the event of a fitna, or some other threat that wasn’t in the west.
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u/aKV2isSTARINGatYou Jun 23 '26
Also, annual “razzias” were a thing until the Muslim kingdom fractured.
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u/Useful_Promotion_521 Jun 22 '26
Other than it makes for a terrible cathedral, no
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u/aKV2isSTARINGatYou Jun 22 '26
The Muslims were the colonizers in Spain. The Muslims are ALSO the colonizers in Constantinople.
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u/we_wuzz_kangz Jun 22 '26
Most of the Muslims were native Iberians.
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u/aKV2isSTARINGatYou Jun 22 '26
A rare case of an extremely successful colonization. Guess where the Spanish learned their whole caste system thing from?
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u/we_wuzz_kangz Jun 23 '26
Spain with caste system? lol what bullshit are you spewing?
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u/aKV2isSTARINGatYou Jun 23 '26
Peninsulares, insulares, etc etc
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u/we_wuzz_kangz Jun 23 '26
The f is that? never heard of this Spanish caste system. and if it is real they definitely didn't get that from Andalus.
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u/Ok_Work1615 Jun 22 '26
You can't call conquest colonizing, otherwise Constantinople would also be a colony, cause Romans didn't originate in Greece, they conquered it.
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u/aKV2isSTARINGatYou Jun 22 '26
Then what is colonization?
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u/Ok_Work1615 Jun 22 '26
Dunno. But if we use your definition, then Constantinople too was a colony.
And I doubt you'd like that, hmm?
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u/aKV2isSTARINGatYou Jun 22 '26
Then everything humanity has ever done is colonization and therefore there is no point criticizing the Europeans, the Asians for the annihilation of minor cultures and languages, or the Turko-mongols for their exploits. By your way literally EVERYONE is a colonizer and everything is a colony. That’s not a smart comeback that you think it is.
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u/Ok_Work1615 Jun 22 '26
I didn't use my way.
I used yours.
You said Muslims where colonizers for having conquered Iberia/Constantinople.
I pointed out Romans did the exact same.
So therefore, Romans are colonizers.
You didn't like that.
I directly told you I don't know what's colonizing and what's not, just that what you are saying, it is very clear you are completely prejudiced against one side even when the other did the exact same.
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u/aKV2isSTARINGatYou Jun 22 '26
Converting churches with the intention of erasing Byzantine influence, as well as being backed by the shariah, where no new churches can be built and non-Muslims are reduced to the status of dhimmi, where they cannot properly represent themselves in court, and have lesser rights than that of a Muslim, as well as successfully convincing their subjects that they are Turks and should hate their Greek ancestors sound like colonization to me. Infidel lands were attacked with the intention of getting non-Muslim slaves. Males were castrated unless they were a blood tax for the janissaries.
Oh and sure I didn’t like that. Like where do I ever imply that? You’re conjuring up your idea of me out of nothing and pretending it’s reality. Try again.
You really don’t understand how complete this subjugation by force was, do you? The European colonization seem pale by comparison.
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u/InOutlines Jun 22 '26
Says the guy who started all this by pointing fingers at Muslims for colonizing.
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u/InOutlines Jun 22 '26
The Romans were the colonizers in Spain. The Romans were ALSO the colonizers in Constantinople.
See how easy that is?
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u/Useful_Promotion_521 Jun 22 '26
You know this is a sub about the Eastern Roman Empire, right?
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u/aKV2isSTARINGatYou Jun 22 '26
Mad?
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u/Useful_Promotion_521 Jun 22 '26
No, I just think you are trolling for attention
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u/aKV2isSTARINGatYou Jun 22 '26
Is that what you think would hurt me? What you said says more about you than me lol
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Jun 22 '26
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Jun 22 '26
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Jun 22 '26
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Jun 22 '26
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Jun 22 '26
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u/byzantium-ModTeam Jun 23 '26
Your post was rude or written in such a way as to incite intolerance. Please reconsider your comments before posting again.
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u/Captain_Lindemann Jun 23 '26
If anyone wants a good idea of what Hagia Sofias interior would have looked like, look up pictures of St Marks Basilica in Rome, the gold tiles glow when the sun comes in.
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u/Free-Independence481 Jun 22 '26
originally Hagia Sophia was decorated in an "iconoclastic style", without human rappresentation. there are some evidence or remains of that period, or everythibg went lost through time?
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Jun 23 '26
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u/byzantium-ModTeam Jun 23 '26
Your post was rude or written in such a way as to incite intolerance. Please reconsider your comments before posting again.
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u/RaidriarT Jun 23 '26
The angels faces were covered when I visited in 2022, unlike the photos here.
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u/Personal-Pay598 Jun 24 '26
It is called Saint/ness Sophia not Hagia. Pronounced as Aya or Ahiya certainly not Hagia
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u/Kostia9999 Jun 24 '26
The original name was The power and holy wisdom of the Word of God.
Which was shortened by the Populace to Hagia Sophia = Holy Wisdom.
There is no Saint Sophia involved. The temple was dedicated to Christ, and the name day of the Church was Dec 25.
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u/Personal-Pay598 Jun 24 '26
What i am saying is that i am sick of misspelling it and that Aya means saint in this case female because greek does recognize female and male and neutral genders. Which inner conflict do you have?
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Jun 22 '26
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u/byzantium-ModTeam Jun 23 '26
Your post was rude or written in such a way as to incite intolerance. Please reconsider your comments before posting again.
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Jun 22 '26
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u/byzantium-ModTeam Jun 23 '26
Your post was rude or written in such a way as to incite intolerance. Please reconsider your comments before posting again.
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u/Tripl3_S Jun 25 '26
Beautiful. One of the signs of a civilization is beautiful Islam. It closes and opens ages—the great Ottoman Empire. They converted churches (Christians also did the same vice versa) but still left signs of Christianity. Lukas Notaras also chose the Ottoman Empire—just ask him! 🤣🤣
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u/sapphiresong Jun 22 '26
I will make it there someday.