Hagia Sophia: Power, Religion, and the Consequences of Time
by Malgorzata Pyter
Our relics of the Byzantine Empire are disappearing. The history they contain is being lost forever. In modern day Istanbul, there are not many laws to protect ancient historical sites. It has been reported that generations-old walls have been demolished with no regard for their architectural importance and converted into parking lots (Bordewich, 2008). Yet, not all has been destroyed in the pursuit of untethered modern capitalism. One of the largest and most enduring links to the past we have today is Hagia Sophia, a church designed as a hybrid between centrally-planned structures and basilicas, that, at the height of the Byzantine Empire, held holy significance (and to many still does). Although the bulk of the building has withstood the test of time, it currently stands in not the best shape; between a history of bloody assaults on it, limited budgets in the contemporary efforts to protect Hagia Sophia, and foundational cracks caused by environmental damage. Nevertheless, at the height of the Byzantine Age of Spirituality, Hagia Sophia was revered by thousands of believers far and wide across that powerful empire.
The architecture of the Hagia Sophia has a dynamic quality to it. When sunlight hits the interior, it glimmers, rendering the Hagia Sophia almost alive. The interior of the Hagia Sophia is marble and gold, both highly reflective of light. The interior of the Hagia Sophia had been designed to be used during the course of the Eucharistic liturgy, which happened between sunrise and mid-morning (Pentcheva, 2011). The Eucharistic Prayer is the most important act of worship within the Christian faith. During the Eucharist there is the offering of bread and wine, representing Christ’s body and blood respectively. God’s holiness is honored and Jesus’ sacrifice acknowledged during this ritual. Hagia Sophia’s beauty was meant to be experienced during this vulnerable display of spirituality. On the exterior, the building was solid, strong, and even intimidating in its grandeur. Yet inside, where Christians pronounced their faith, the room lit up with the glory of their belief. The Hagia Sophia was considered the center of the Christian world.
A Greek Byzantine poet named Paul the Silentiary wrote extensively about Hagia Sophia. To describe it, he used the phrase aiolomorphos, a term that meant changing shapes or appearances (Pentcheva, 2011). At the time, poikilo, aigle, or shimmer, had influenced many artistic mediums. The Greeks became fascinated with “the instability or mutability of color” (Pentcheva, 2011). Many had seen it as “a microcosm of heaven” (Bordewich, 2008). The mutability of the Hagia Sophia interior, as well as its relation to the motions of the sun, was used to emphasize the importance of the Eucharistic liturgy. Furthermore, the visual shimmer lends a sense of mystery to Hagia Sophia.
Hagia Sophia was a popular destination for pilgrims from all over Eastern Europe. It was claimed to have contained a number of rare, religious artifacts, such as Christ’s crown of thorns, pieces of the cross, and the olive branch brought to Noah after the flood (Bordewich, 2008). Paul the Silentiary, one of the people entranced by the legend of the Hagia Sophia, described the floor as “gladly given its back to the life of the giving ruler Christ” (Pentcheva, 2011). This illustrates how the architectural beauty of the Hagia Sophia had been in service to its function as a site for religious worship.
Anthemius of Tralles utilized a complex design to create unique impressions of light. There are huge working arches used as foundations. Those arches had been tucked away within the spherical triangles that were pendentive supports, which is important to Hagia Sophia as it was one of the earliest known structures to use such supports. Only two of them are visually present, though only from the exterior of Hagia Sophia (MacDonald, 1957). Hagia Sophia is constructed at a strange angle (33 degrees south of east), yet, that placement allowed the aisles within its dome structure to create strong beams of light that traveled right up to the altar and other spaces of worship (MacDonald, 1957). In addition, the curving glass and golden surfaces helped light travel throughout the interior, even during nights when lamps would be lit up. Interestingly, on Christmas morning, one of the most important dates in Christianity, the sun rises in almost perfect alignment with the building’s main axis (MacDonald, 1957). Given Hagia Sophia had been constructed to embody a microcosm of heaven, Anthemius of Tralles had carefully calculated and experimented with natural light. Sunlight is channeled within the architecture of the structure. Hagia Sophia is intended to celebrate God’s creation through its design, which, rather than filtering out natural elements, used them to its artistic advantage.
Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine empire, housed Hagia Sophia. The architectural brilliance of Hagia Sophia was, in part, a consequence of the overall success the empire had during its construction. One of the advantages Constantinople had, which led it to be considered the de-facto heart of the Byzantine conquest, was its location relative to the territories it controlled. Jelena Bogdanović, who is a respected scholar in the field of architectural history and cultural heritage, with extensive expertise in Byzantine architecture, writes that all of the continents were open to the empire. Constantinople existed alongside a flourishing peninsula that was made open, through the creation of roads and aqueducts, to long distance trade and travel by both land and sea (Bogdanovic, 2016). Furthermore, much like Hagia Sophia itself, Constantinian streets were fortified with walls and towers that enclosed them under the authority of the emperor alone and made the city incredibly impervious to any siege (Bogdanovic, 2016). That is why this source is essential for understating Hagia Sophia’s importance because it offers a holistic and nuanced perspective on the building’s cultural and spiritual significance. It goes beyond a purely historical or architectural analysis of the structure, and instead examines its role as a symbol of the Byzantine Empire’s religious and political power.
Moreover, Constantinople had been shaken by the Nika riots in 532. During the riots, an Early Christian basilica that stood at the site of Hagia Sophia was burnt down. Following that destructive incident, builders in Constantinople became “fixed in a microcosmic plan,” and the emperor imbued the city with “divine guidance” (Bogdanovic, 2016). This historical context parallels the rise of Hagia Sophia, which from the outside was protected by thick supporting arches, yet, once inside, opens up to a glistening aesthetic brilliance. Many parts of the Hagia Sophia had also been sent from all corners of the Byzantine Empire, such as the marble being from Turkey, while bricks or other materials were sent from even more distant territories, like North Africa. The church was established not only in the service of God, but the empire itself. It was an icon for the Byzantine Empire’s continued survival and accomplishment and has remained standing to this day.
It is also worth mentioning Book I of Buildings by Procopius. It is a valuable source for understanding the history and description of Hagia Sophia. Procopius was a Byzantine historian and court official who lived in the 6th century, and his work provides a detailed and vivid description of the construction of the building during the reign of Emperor Justinian I. Moreover, Procopius’ account is significant because it was written during the time when Hagia Sophia was still a new and important monument in the Byzantine Empire. As a contemporary observer, Procopius provides a unique perspective on the building’s significance and the impact it had on the cultural and political life of Constantinople and the wider world. Procopius’ account of the Nika Insurrection shows how much of a cultural and emotional event the violent riot was. Thousands were injured and killed. A large chunk of Constantinople fell with them. Writing of the rioters, Procopius states, “It was not against the Emperor alone that they had taken up arms, but no less against God himself, unholy wretches that they were, they had the hardihood to fire the Church of the Christians, which the people of Byzantium call ‘Sophia,’ an epithet which they have most appropriately invented for God, by which they call His temple.” During the Byzantine Age of Spirituality, religion manifested itself not only in how they practiced their faith, but also in the way they viewed the outside world. Constantinople, which had housed and protected so many people, was itself represented as a heaven on Earth. This made the attack against it and Hagia Sophia take on a biblical importance as individuals like Procopius viewed whoever would attack such a place as unheavenly creatures.
The spiritualistic faith the inhabitants of Constantinople placed on their city naturally extended onto Hagia Sophia, which was considered the absolute center of Christianity. Anthemius of Tralles had been commissioned by Procopius to rebuild the church. As the arbiter of such an important task, it was important to find an individual qualified and inspired enough to make sure Hagia Sophia lived up to its potential glory. Of Anthemius of Tralles, Procopius claims, “[He is] the most learned man in the skilled craft which is known as the art of building, not only of all his contemporaries, but also when compared with those who had lived long before him.” This description itself is indicative of the influence the Christian faith had on the Byzantine Empire. Its internal myths were constructed around the idea of individuals who are chosen by their God-given talents to be above the fray and destined to rule in whichever field they occupied. One can see how that would be a convenient truth for emperors who want to maintain the validity of their throne.
Hagia Sophia had been the host of political events as well. Throughout the history of the Byzantine Empire, it was used as a venue following important rallies. Justinius Augustus held many ceremonies at Hagia Sophia (Kilde, 2008). As a result, parts of its design had been made to accommodate Constantinople’s elite. The city had an exquisite system of aqueducts, which fed water into tanks and cisterns. The Hagia Sophia, like many wealthy homes at the time, and the Great Palace itself, had three of its own cisterns (Kilde, 2008). Given the luxurious atmosphere of Hagia Sophia, it was naturally also used by High Priests to crown kings. Coronations, such as Leo I’s, were held there. This demonstrates how religion and power were intertwined in Constantinople. In fact, after Hagia Sophia was originally destroyed, when Justinian ordered the construction of its successor, he explicitly did so as his “statement of imperial sovereignty” (Kilde, 2008). This shows how, in addition to being a symbol of faith, it was also an icon of the empire’s power. This power allowed the architecture’s grandiosity and was why Hagia Sophia, despite being the target of many attacks, was protected so strongly during the height of the Byzantine Empire. If Hagia Sophia were to fall, that would signal a weakness of the current emperor. This is why the Nika riots stung the populace and political elite so strongly. It was an attack not only on their faith but, perhaps more importantly, their position as an empire.
Furthermore, when it comes to the recent history of the structure, in 2020, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that Hagia Sophia would once again become a mosque. This move was widely seen as a reflection of Erdogan’s conservative Islamist agenda and his efforts to consolidate power. The decision sparked a wave of protests and condemnation from the international community, with many arguing that it represented a step backwards for Turkey’s secular values and cultural heritage. Despite the criticism, Erdogan’s government pressed ahead with the conversion and the first Friday prayers were held at the mosque in July 2020. The move was celebrated by many conservative Muslims in Turkey and elsewhere, who saw it as a victory for their faith and a sign of Turkey’s growing influence in the Islamic world. However, it also deepened divisions within Turkish society and raised concerns about the erosion of the country’s secularism and its role as a bridge between East and West.The present state of Hagia Sophia truly does demonstrate the current non-existence of the Byzantine Empire. As reflected on previously, it has been an uphill battle to totally preserve Hagia Sophia in the modern times. While it had ultimately endured the Nika riots of 532, its influence had in fact taken a fatal blow. This did not happen at the hands of an attacker. It was simply another consequence of time. Originally built as a church by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in 537, it was later converted into a mosque when the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453. The mosque remained in use until 1935 when the secularist government of the newly established Republic of Turkey converted it into a museum, as part of its efforts to modernize the country and promote its heritage. For decades, the building served as a symbol of the country’s multi-cultural past and was visited by millions of tourists from around the world. The complex history of Hagia Sophia reflects the intricate interplay of power, religion, and the consequences of time, and its transformation from a Christian church to a mosque to a museum and back to a mosque serves as a powerful symbol of the shifting cultural and political landscape of Istanbul and the wider world.
Works Cited
Bogdanović, Jelena. (2016). “The Relational Spiritual Geopolitics of Constantinople, the Capital of the Byzantine Empire.” Political Landscapes of Capital Cities, edited by Jelena Bogdanović et al., University Press of Colorado, 2016, pp. 97–154. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1dfnt2b.9
Bordewich, Fergus M., “A Monumental Struggle to Preserve Hagia Sophia,” Smithsonian Magazine, vol. 39, issue 9, December 2008, pp. 54-64.
Kilde, Jeanne Halgren, Sacred Power, Sacred Space : an Introduction to Christian Architecture and Worship. Oxford University Press, 2008, https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195314694.001.0001.
MacDonald, William. “Design and Technology in Hagia Sophia.” Perspecta, vol. 4, 1957, pp. 20–27, https://doi.org/10.2307/1566853.
Pentcheva, Bissera V. “Hagia Sophia and Multisensory Aesthetics.” Gesta, vol. 50, no. 2, 2011, pp. 93–111, https://doi.org/10.2307/41550552.
Procopius, “Buildings,” Procopius, pp. 9-29, https://archive.org/details/procopius00proc_0/page/n33/mode/2up
