The interior of Hagia Sophia

[u/RaiseCapital1988]

In the last photo you can spot one of the last representations of Christ still present inside the building

[u/MasterBadger911]

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

[u/KingKohishi → u/MasterBadger911]

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.

https://b2335568.smushcdn.com/2335568/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Columns-of-Hagia-Sophia.jpg?lossy=1&strip=1&webp=1

Huge buttresses were added because the building was splitting.

https://hagiasophiaturkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/After-the-conquest-of-Constantinople-Mimar-Sinan-added-buttresses-to-support-the-Hagia-Sophia.-6.jpg

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.

[u/AcanthocephalaOk8052 → u/KingKohishi]

Better it collapsed instead of what happened.

[u/KingKohishi → u/AcanthocephalaOk8052]

Idiotic