Construction of Hagia Sophia
On the ruins of the cathedral burnt in the Nika riots, Justinian built in less than six years the new church of the Holy Wisdom, whose huge dome made it the masterpiece of Byzantine architecture.
- Date
- 23 February 532 – 27 December 537exact date · duration: ≈ 6 yearsDate in the Julian calendar
- Place
- Hagia Sophia, Constantinopletoday: Istanbul, Turkey · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- Justinian I, Byzantine Empire
- Threads
- Early medieval Europe (500–1000)
- Also known as
- Святая София; Айя-София; Ayasofya; Nika riots; Восстание «Ника»
In January 532 the circus factions of Constantinople rose against Justinian in the Nika riots; the old basilica of Hagia Sophia burned down, and the revolt was drowned in blood in the Hippodrome. On 23 February, barely six weeks later, the emperor began a completely new church. The architects, the mathematician Anthemius of Tralles and the engineer Isidore of Miletus, combined a basilica with a central dome carried on pendentives, a solution on an unprecedented scale. The church was consecrated on 27 December 537.
Earthquakes cracked the first, flatter dome, which collapsed in 558; Isidore the Younger rebuilt it higher, and the church was rededicated in 562. For nearly a thousand years Hagia Sophia was the cathedral of the patriarchs of Constantinople and the setting of imperial ceremonies; after 1453 it became a mosque.
Connections
Related events
- Corpus Juris Civilis7 April 529 – 16 November 534 · Balkans and AnatoliaThe codification was completed while Hagia Sophia was being built — two monuments of Justinian’s renewal of the empire
- Vladimir’s choice of faith986–987 · Eastern Europethe liturgy in Hagia Sophia decided the envoys’ choice
Same participants
- Vandalic WarJune 533 – March 534 · Africavia Justinian I
- Gothic War (535–554)535–554 · Western and Central Europevia Justinian I
Same place
- Founding of Constantinople11 May 330 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Council of Chalcedon8 October – 1 November 451 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Plague of Justinian541–549 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Jordanes and Procopius describe the Sclaveni and the Antesbetween 550 and 554 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Avar–Persian siege of Constantinople29 June – 7 August 626 · Balkans and Anatolia
- First Arab siege of Constantinople674–678 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Second Arab siege of Constantinoplebetween 15 July and 15 August 717 – 15 August 718 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Byzantine Iconoclasmbetween 726 and 730 – 11 March 843 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’ attack on Constantinople18 June – 4 August 860 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople907 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 9112 September 911 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Igor’s campaigns against Byzantium11 June 941 – 944 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 944between 944 and 945 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Olga’s visit to Constantinople and her baptism9 September – 18 October 957 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Sack of Constantinople12–13 April 1204 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Reconquest of Constantinople25 July 1261 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Fall of Constantinople29 May 1453 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Accession of Suleiman the Magnificent30 September 1520 · Balkans and Anatolia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Benedict of Nursia founds Monte Cassinobetween 529 and 530
- Gothic War (535–554)535–554
- Baptism of Clovisbetween 496 and 508
Eastern Europe
- The Avars ravage the lands of the Antesbetween 560 and 562
- Early Slavic cultures: Prague-Korchak, Penkovka and Kolochinc. 450 – c. 700
- Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv: the legendary founding of Kyivbetween 500 and 700
Africa
- Vandalic WarJune 533 – March 534
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Hagia Sophia
- Wikipedia (English): Nika riots
- Wikipedia (Russian): Собор Святой Софии (Константинополь)
- Wikipedia (Russian): Ника (восстание)
- Mainstone R. J. Hagia Sophia: Architecture, Structure and Liturgy of Justinian’s Great Church. — London: Thames and Hudson, 1988.
- Wikidata: Q12506