Haghia Sophia - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 36

the reign of Theodosius II, who succeeded his father Arcadius in the
year 408. The second church of Haghia Sophia was completed in
415 and was dedicated by Theodosius on 10 October of that year.
The church of Theodosius eventually sufered the same fate as its
predecessor, for it was burned down during the Nika Revolt on 15
January 532.
The chronicler Procopius, commenting on the destruction of
Haghia Sophia in the Nika Revolt, observed that “God allowed the
mob to commit this sacrilege, knowing how great the beauty of this
church would be when restored.” Procopius tells us that Justinian
immediately set out to rebuild the church on an even grander scale
than before. According to Procopius: “The Emperor built regardless
of expense, gathering together skilled workmen from every land.”
Justinian appointed as head architect Anthemius of Tralles, one of
the most distinguished mathematicians and physicists of the age, and
as his assistant named Isidorus of Miletus, the greatest geometer of late
antiquity. Isidorus had been the director of the ancient and illustrious
Academy in Athens before it was closed by Justinian in the year 529.
Isidorus, who was placed in charge of the building of Haghia Sophia
after the death of Anthemius in the year 532, is thus a link between
the worlds of ancient Greece and medieval Byzantium. Just as the
Academy of Plato had been one of the outstanding institutions of
classical Greek culture, so would the resurrected Haghia Sophia be
the symbol of a triumphant Christianity, Byzantine-style.
The new church of Haghia Sophia was finally completed late in 537
and was formally dedicated by Justinian on 26 December of that year,
St. Stephen's Day. Hardly had the church come of age, however, when
earthquakes caused the collapse of the eastern arch and semidome
and the eastern part of the great dome, crushing beneath the debris
the altar with its ciborium and the ambo. Undaunted, Justinian set
out to rebuild his church, entrusting the restoration to Isidorus the
Younger, a nephew of Isidorus of Miletus. The principal change made
by Isidorus was to make the dome somewhat higher than before,
thereby lessening its outward thrust. Isidorus' solution for the dome
has on the whole been a great success for it has survived, in spite of
two later partial collapses, until our own day. Restorations after those