Hagia Sophia

Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul, earlier named Constantinople, is the crossroad of Europe, Asia and the Middle East. This building represents the blending of these diverse religions, politics and beliefs. It was completed in 537 as a Christian Church of the Eastern Roman Empire, but around 1000, its members broke away to become an Orthodox Christian Church, and later a Roman Catholic Cathedral. In 1453, the Ottomans took over, and it became a mosque. Then in 1935 a museum, and finally in 2020, again a mosque. At the time of initial construction, a Greek Historian reported that the roof had collapsed a few times before the work was successful. On a basement wall, a worker scribbled in Greek, “God help us survive”. One can still see the Christian depictions of the Christ story, alongside the Moslem emblems and Arabic script. Through the years of changes and ownership, the building became a living record of the evolution of design and technology. The facade has little order to it, except for the massive crowning dome, and an array of lesser domes. At this stage of my architectural life, I understand the science of buildings. Yet I am confounded at how builders in those early times figured out the structural forces that the massive domes and vaults would impose from layer to layer of building, and finally into the earth below. I don’t know any structural or geotechnical engineers today who would take on such an assignment.   

The fractured daylight shoots rays of life though the rhythmic pattern of the clearstory windows circling the domes. Like being inside other great buildings of history with massive interior volumes, here one is easily reduced to a humble mortal being, a subject to the greater spirit that the faith-du-jour demands.