What Kind of Art Is at the Hagia Sophia?

Byzantine Fine art

Greek Art

Continental Greece was declining by the fourth century, and the once-glorious city of Athens was losing its tolerence - non-Christian philosophers were persecuted. All the same, Greek culture was yet a major forcefulness in Constantinople, and in medieval times the empire itself was often described as Greek. In the Byzantine age, the most influential city was Thessalonica (Salonika), known for its magnificent art and splendid monuments, even during the years of Turkish domination. The reconstructed basilica of Hagia Sophia, complete with vaults and dome, was dedicated in the 6th century, and the Boeotian church of the Koimesis at Skripou (ad873—74), with its domed cruciform plan, is also notable for its fine decoration. In the 11th and 12th centuries, a number of cruciform churches were built, their domes supported by four columns or past two columns and two pilasters. Other important churches were constructed on an octagonal plan, such as the 11th-century Sotera Lykodimou in Athens and those at Chios and Daphni. Churches on the inscribed-cross model, with a fundamental dome and 4 smaller domes at the tips of the artillery, were built as far afield as Epirus and Macedonia. Wall-paintings in churches at Salonika, Nikopoli, and Lesbos are reminders of Alexandrian influence in the sixth century, while wall-paintings in the monasteries of Mount Athos, dating from most the 14th century, are more rigidly Byzantine. At that place is little evidence of Latin influence, although there is some interesting Latin architecture in the Holy Land, including the fortress of St Jean d'Acre at the port of Acre.

Panagia ton Chalkeon, or "bronzesmiths' church", Salonika, Greece, 1028.
A masterpiece of late Byzantine art the church building is laid out in the shape of a Greek cross,
with an apse, one fundamental dome, and two on the narthex.
Its red brick exterior with circular arches and projecting cornices houses 11th-and 14th-century frescos

Hagia Sophia

Church of the Holy Wisdom in Constantinople (532-37)

Hagia Sophia, Church of the Holy Wisdom in Constantinople (532-37)

Church building of the Holy Wisdom
The Church of the Holy Wisdom, usually known equally Hagia Sophia in English, is a former Greek Orthodox church converted to a mosque, in Istanbul (Constantinople). It is universally acknowledged as i of the grea t buildings of the globe.Null remains of the first church that was built on the same site during the fourth century. Following the destruction of the get-go church building, a 2d was built by Constantius, the son of Constantine the Great, just was burned downward during the Nika riots of 532. The building was rebuilt under the personal supervision of emperor Justinian I and rededicated on Dec 27, 537.
For architects Justinian chose Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles, professors of geometry at the University of Constantinople; Anthemius, however, died within the first year. The construction is described in Procopius' On Buildings (De Aedificiis). The Byzantine poet Paulus the Silentiary equanimous an extant poetic ekphrasis, probably for the rededication of 563, which followed the plummet of the main dome.
Hagia Sophia is one of the greatest surviving examples of Byzantine architecture. Of smashing artistic value was its decorated interior with mosaics and marble pillars and coverings. The temple itself was so richly and artistically busy that Justinian is said to have proclaimed "Solomon, I have surpassed thee!". Justinian himself had overseen the completion of the greatest cathedral ever built up to that time, and it was to remain the largest cathedral for i,000 years upward until the completion of the cathedral in Seville. Information technology is today the quaternary largest cathedral in the world (past size, not tiptop)