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On December 24, 563, the Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople was dedicated for the second time after having been destroyed by earthquakes. This website has an array of pictures and written history. From the article:
"See how time is taking its toll
Over the centuries, some parts of the revetment have degraded and have lost their color. For example some of the panels of Verde Antique (see above) have lost their color, turning gray, and have degraded, in parts, to talc (this has also happened to some of columns of Verde Antique). Due to the physical stress the church has constantly been under since its construction, revetment panels have cracked all over Hagia Sophia and some have become fragmented or fallen down, even in the nave. Panels have been moved from the aisles and galleries to replace these. As a result a significant part of the revetment has been lost in the aisles and has been replaced with painted plaster. It would be easy to replace the missing slabs, many of the quarries can still be worked or are operating today.
Although close to 50% of the revetment in Hagia Sophia has vanished due to its removal to decorate Ottoman palaces and mosques, you would probably be surprised to know that the large parts of the revetment have their original surfaces and have not been cleaned and polished in more than 1,000 years! You can still find the undisturbed history of the church in the layers of oil, grime and candle soot there.
The Byzantine Institute began to polish and clean the revetment starting with the western nave wall in 1958, but the work stopped. Continuing the polishing would remove the gray dusty blanket that covers the revetment and bring out the colors and contrasts that are missing today. If you would like to learn more about the marble revetment and where it came from I have created a special page with 40 images. Click here to see it.
Oh no, the dome fell! $9 million in silver lost in the rubble
Fortunately the building of Hagia Sophia was early in his reign, before the real horrors began. The problems were not financial they were structural. Being so close to the job site Justinian carefully monitored the construction progress himself and make decisions. His builders, the famous team of Anthemios and Isidorus, encountered many challenges due to the scale of the project and the limits of the building materials used, particularly the drying of the mortar. On could say that the primary building material of Hagia Sophia was not brick, but mortar. The piers and arches moved and stretched apart in odd and uneven directions as it dried. The builders made changes and modifications to the design as it went up, with a great deal of improvisation, arches and buttresses were added, the columns in the upper arcade were increased from 5 to 7, which spoiled the symmetry of the colonnades forever. The superb dome they built - one that seemed to float above the nave - only lasted for 20 years when it came crashing down - destroying $9 million of silver-covered stuff in the sanctuary. The replacement of 563 was taller and less elegant, but was more secure structurally. It took almost as long to rebuild the dome as it took to build the church originally."
"See how time is taking its toll
Over the centuries, some parts of the revetment have degraded and have lost their color. For example some of the panels of Verde Antique (see above) have lost their color, turning gray, and have degraded, in parts, to talc (this has also happened to some of columns of Verde Antique). Due to the physical stress the church has constantly been under since its construction, revetment panels have cracked all over Hagia Sophia and some have become fragmented or fallen down, even in the nave. Panels have been moved from the aisles and galleries to replace these. As a result a significant part of the revetment has been lost in the aisles and has been replaced with painted plaster. It would be easy to replace the missing slabs, many of the quarries can still be worked or are operating today.
Although close to 50% of the revetment in Hagia Sophia has vanished due to its removal to decorate Ottoman palaces and mosques, you would probably be surprised to know that the large parts of the revetment have their original surfaces and have not been cleaned and polished in more than 1,000 years! You can still find the undisturbed history of the church in the layers of oil, grime and candle soot there.
The Byzantine Institute began to polish and clean the revetment starting with the western nave wall in 1958, but the work stopped. Continuing the polishing would remove the gray dusty blanket that covers the revetment and bring out the colors and contrasts that are missing today. If you would like to learn more about the marble revetment and where it came from I have created a special page with 40 images. Click here to see it.
Oh no, the dome fell! $9 million in silver lost in the rubble
Fortunately the building of Hagia Sophia was early in his reign, before the real horrors began. The problems were not financial they were structural. Being so close to the job site Justinian carefully monitored the construction progress himself and make decisions. His builders, the famous team of Anthemios and Isidorus, encountered many challenges due to the scale of the project and the limits of the building materials used, particularly the drying of the mortar. On could say that the primary building material of Hagia Sophia was not brick, but mortar. The piers and arches moved and stretched apart in odd and uneven directions as it dried. The builders made changes and modifications to the design as it went up, with a great deal of improvisation, arches and buttresses were added, the columns in the upper arcade were increased from 5 to 7, which spoiled the symmetry of the colonnades forever. The superb dome they built - one that seemed to float above the nave - only lasted for 20 years when it came crashing down - destroying $9 million of silver-covered stuff in the sanctuary. The replacement of 563 was taller and less elegant, but was more secure structurally. It took almost as long to rebuild the dome as it took to build the church originally."
Hagia Sophia History - the Church of Holy Wisdom
Posted from pallasweb.com
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Posted 5 y ago
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Beautiful article. It is on our bucket list, my wife and I both plan to get there one of these years. Did you know the Byzantine emperors could not trust local bodyguards not to be subverted, so for many years they were guarded by the Varangian Guard, Nordic warriors, mainly Swedes, recruited mostly from the Swedish kingdom of Kiev in present Ukraine. Stemming from that period, many of the balcony railings have been disfigured by Swedish runes carved by bored Varangians, stuff like "Sven was here" and "I miss Gotland." The carvings are still there.
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