27 December 537 A.D. Consecration
of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople
Graves, Dan. “Consecration of Hagia Sophia.” Christianity.com.
Jul 2007. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/301-600/consecration-of-hagia-sophia-11629710.html. Accessed
23 Jun 2014.
Nothing like the new church of Constantinople had
been seen before. Borrowing from several earlier architectural styles,
Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus created the masterpiece of
sixth-century Byzantium. Although they were not professional architects,
Emperor Justinian chose them, presumably because they had helped construct some
of his military works. At any rate, they applied mathematics to the structure
in a manner new to architectural design. The result was a work of grace and
beauty.
Because its dome was set upon a ring of closely
spaced windows, the Hagia Sophia (Church of the Holy Wisdom) was so "...
full of light and sunshine; you would declare that the place is not lighted by
the sun from without, but that the rays are produced within itself, such an
abundance of light is poured into this church...." wrote a contemporary.
Some described the space within as seeming infinite.
Emperor Justinian had spared no expense to erect
this masterpiece, which went up in the astonishing span of just five years.
This was possible because Justinian lavished money on the enterprise. One
source estimates he spent as much as 23 million gold solidi on the building
(the equivalent of $25 billion dollars* in today's purchasing power). 40,000
pounds of silver were used in the decor alone.
When the emperor inspected the largely-completed work
shortly before its consecration, he was silent for a long time. His eyes
scanned its contrasts of gold with blue, the alternation of vertical and
horizontal marble slabs, and the opposition of carven columns to curved arches.
These created an interior beauty that made space seem to melt into space so
that it was hard for the eye to gauge distances. "Solomon, I have
surpassed you!" he exclaimed at last.
And in truth, no temple of antiquity had ever come
close to the originality and magnificence of this. It had been made possible
only by Justinian's zeal. At first it was simply called the "Great
Church," but later the name "Holy Wisdom" was applied to it.
On this day, December
27, 537, Patriarch Menas of Constantinople consecrated the architectural
masterpiece. Eventually a bridge linked the church directly to the nearby
imperial palace. Six hundred religious workers served the building, in which
important religious functions of the empire took place. According to the
Patriarchate of Constantinople, these workers included 80 priests, 150 deacons,
40 deaconesses, 60 subdeacons, 160 readers, 25 chanters, and 75 doorkeepers.
--------
*This estimate is arrived at through the following
reasoning: a gold solidus was worth 25 silver denarii. A denarius was a day's
wage for a common laborer. At a minimum wage of $US 5.50 an hour, a denarius
would be equivalent to $44 in buying power. The rest is multiplication.
Bibliography:
Aland,
Kurt. Saints and Sinners; men and ideas in the early church. Philadelphia:
Fortress Press, 1970.
Browning,
Robert. Justinian and Theodora. New York: Praeger, 1971.
"Hagia
Sophia. Little chronicle of the Great Church." Byzantine Monuments.
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. http://www.patriarchate.org/
ecumenical_patriarchate/chapter_4/ html/hagia_sophia.html
Moorhead,
John. Justinian. London and New York: Longman, 1994.
Procopius.
"De Aedificis." Medieval Sourcebook. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/
source/procop-deaed1.html
Last updated July, 2007
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