Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Colourful mosaics inside Aya Sofya
GEORGE TSAFOS/GETTY IMAGES ©
THE BUTTRESSES
The original building form designed by Aya Sofya's architects, Anthemios of Tralles and Isidoros of Mile-
tus, has been compromised by the addition of 24 buttresses, added to reinforce the building and its enorm-
ous dome. Some date from Byzantine times, others from the Ottoman period; seven buttresses are on the
eastern side of the building, four on the southern, four on the northern and five on the western. The remain-
ing four support the structure as weight towers.
The last Byzantine Emperor, Constantine XI, prayed in Aya Sofya just before midnight on 28 May
1453. Hours later he was killed while defending the city walls from the attack being staged by the
army of Mehmet II. The city fell to the Ottomans on the 29th, and Mehmet's first act of victory was to
make his way to Aya Sofya and declare that it should immediately be converted to a mosque.
Outbuildings
Exit through the
Beautiful Gate
, a magnificent bronze gate dating from the second cen-
tury BC. This originally adorned a pagan temple in Tarsus and was brought to İstanbul by
Emperor Theophilos in 838.
As you leave the building, be sure to look back to admire the 10th-century mosaic of
Constantine the Great, the Virgin Mary and the Emperor Justinian
on the lunette of
the inner doorway. Constantine (right) is offering the Virgin, who holds the Christ Child,
the city of İstanbul; Justinian (left) is offering her Aya Sofya.
Just before you exit the building, there is a doorway to your left. This leads into a small
courtyard that was once part of a 6th-century
Baptistry
. In the 17th century the Baptistry
