LITTLE HAGIA SOPHIA

Description

Essentials about the Little Hagia Sophia in brief

The Little Hagia Sophia is, so to speak, the miniature version of its world-famous sister, or rather, the structural model for the “big” Hagia Sophia, the main church of the Byzantine Empire. It is located on the southern edge of the historic center of Istanbul, just south of the Hippodrome and not far from the Sea of Marmara.

The history of the Little Hagia Sophia

Actually, the Little Hagia Sophia is called Sergios and Bakchos Church. The name commemorates the two Roman legionaries Sergios and Bacchus, who converted to Christianity and fell in a religious battle. The building was erected between 527 and 536 (that is, a few years before Hagia Sophia), during the reign of Emperor Justinian I. The site chosen for the new church was an undeveloped area between the Bucolean Palace (Justinian’s palace before his accession) and the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. The two churches shared narthex, atrium and propylon. The new church became the center of the complex, until today on its southern side is the northern wall of one of the other two buildings.

The Sergios and Bakchos Church was one of the most important religious buildings in Constantinople. Because of its strong resemblance to Hagia Sophia, it is believed that the building was designed by the same architects Anthemios of Tralleis and Isidore of Miletus, and that the construction was a kind of final rehearsal for the construction of Hagia Sophia.

From the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by the Ottomans until the reign of Sultan Bayezid II, the Little Hagia Sophia remained as a church. In 1504 it was finally converted into a mosque. At that time, the portico and a madrasa were added to the building, while the mosaics that decorated the church were destroyed.

After extensive restoration work between 2002 to 2006, the Little Hagia Sophia was reopened to the public as a mosque. In addition to a small garden and some small stores from the Ottoman period, there is a small Muslim cemetery to the north of the structure, as well as the former Baptistery from the Byzantine period.

The architecture of the Little Hagia Sophia

The remarkable geometric layout of the Little Hagia Sophia consists of a central octagonal domed room inserted into an irregular quadrilateral with inner corner niches. In all likelihood, it too was once decorated with magnificent gold mosaics. Its green and red marble columns in the interior are still preserved in the original and some of the white capitals bear the monograms of Justinian and his wife Theodora.