Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
Hagia Sophia, built as the Church of Holy Wisdom, is the architectural master piece of the Byzantine Empire, and one of the few surviving great works of the Antiquity. It was originally built in 326 as part of the newly founded Constantinople by the Emperor Constantine. However, the building ended up collapsing, and was rebuilt by Emperor Justinian in 537. Its foolhardy design challenged the structural norms of its time. the dome was the first to be built using the pendentive - an architectural device that resolves the meeting of th curve of the dome and the right angle of the wall bellow. The four minarets were added in the 16th century, when the church was converted to a mosque.
Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
Hagia Sophia, built as the Church of Holy Wisdom, is the architectural master piece of the Byzantine Empire, and one of the few surviving great works of the Antiquity. It was originally built in 326 as part of the newly founded Constantinople by the Emperor Constantine. However, the building ended up collapsing, and was rebuilt by Emperor Justinian in 537. Its foolhardy design challenged the structural norms of its time. the dome was the first to be built using the pendentive - an architectural device that resolves the meeting of th curve of the dome and the right angle of the wall bellow. The four minarets were added in the 16th century, when the church was converted to a mosque.