Haghia Sophia - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 49

We now retrace our steps to view the other visible mosaics, all
of which are located in the southern gallery. Before we turn into
the gallery, we might pause for a moment at a closed door in the
south end of the central gallery. This door leads into a large chamber
directly over the Vestibule of the Warriors, and this in turn leads into
a suite of rooms on either side. These rooms contain a large number
of mosaics, which are thought to date from the second half of the
ninth century, just after the end of the iconoclastic period. These
fascinating rooms are almost certainly the large and small secreta of
the Patriarchal Palace, which adjoined Haghia Sophia to the south.
Unfortunately, they are not open to the public.
In the south gallery, between the western pier and buttress, there
stretches a marble screen in the form of two pairs of false double doors
with elaborately ornamented panels, the so-called Gates of Heaven and
Hell. Between them is the actual doorway with a slab of translucent
Phrygian marble above it; a sculpted wooden beam forms a kind of
cornice to the whole. Neither the date nor the purpose of this screen
is known. It is certainly not an original part of the church but a later
addition, and it has been suggested that it may have been erected to
screen of the portion of the south gallery used for Church synods.
The second in date of the imperial portraits is located at the east end
of the south gallery, next to the apse; it depicts the famous Empress
Zoe and her third husband, Constantine IX Monomachos. At the
centre of the composition we see the enthroned figure of Christ, his
right hand raised in a gesture of benediction, his left holding the
book of Gospels. On Christ's right stands the Emperor holding in
his hands the ofering of a moneybag, and to his left is the Empress
holding an inscribed scroll. Above the Emperor's head an inscription
reads: “Constantine, in Christ the Lord Autocrat, faithful Emperor of
the Romans, Monomachus.” Above the head of the Empress we read:
“Zoe, the most pious Augusta.” The scroll in her hand has the same
legends as that over the Emperor's head, save that the words Autocrat
and Monomachus are omitted for want of space.
Now the curious thing about this mosaic is that all three heads
and the two inscriptions concerning Constantine have been altered.
A possible explanation for this is furnished by a review of the life