Haghia Sophia - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 39

designs in various colours. Simple crosses in outline on the crowns
of vaults and the soffits of arches are constantly repeated, and the
Silentiary tells us that there was a cross of this kind on the crown of
the great dome. This exceedingly simple but brilliant and flashing
decoration must have been very efective indeed.
Whatever figural mosaics may have been introduced into the
church after Justinian's time were certainly destroyed during the
iconoclastic period, which lasted from 729 till 843. The figural
mosaics which we see in Haghia Sophia today are thus from after
that period, although there is far from being unanimous agreement
among the experts as to the exact dates. Most of them would appear
to belong to the second half of the ninth century and the course of
the tenth century, although some are considerably later.
In the lunette above the doorway at the inner end of the Vestibule
of the Warriors, we see one of the two mosaic panels which were
rediscovered in 1933, after having been obscured for centuries by
whitewash and plaster. Since that time other mosaics in the nave and
gallery have been uncovered and restored, and their brilliant tesserae
now brighten again the walls of Haghia Sophia, reminding us of the
splendour with which it was once decorated throughout. The mosaic
in the Vestibule of the Warriors is thought to date from the last
quarter of the tenth century, from the reign of Basil II, the Bulgar-
Slayer. It depicts the enthroned Mother of God holding in her lap
the Christ-Child, as she receives two emperors in audience. On her
right “Constantine the Great Emperor among the Saints” ofers her a
model of the city of Constantinople; while “Justinian the illustrious
Emperor” on her left presents her with a model of Haghia Sophia:
neither model remotely resembles its original!
We now enter the narthex, a long vestibule of nine vaulted bays.
Five great doors on the left lead to the exonarthex and nine on the
right give entrance to the nave. Many of these doors are splendid and
interesting and most of them appear to date from the time of Justinian.
The monumental central door to the nave was known anciently as the
Imperial Gate. The frame of the door is covered with brass, replacing
the silver with which it was sheathed in the days of Justinian, and is
surmounted by a casket-like cornice in brass. According to an old