Subtitles section Play video
-
The best look at ancient Constantinople is a church-turned-mosque that's been
-
considered among the greatest houses of worship in both the Christian and Muslim
-
worlds:
-
Hagia Sophia, the Great Church of Constantinople.
-
Built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in the early 6th century on the grandest
-
scale possible, it was later converted into a mosque by the conquering Ottomans.
-
Today
-
it's a museum.
-
Hagia Sophia, which marks the high point of Byzantine architecture
-
is the pinnacle of that society's 6th century glory days.
-
This church was completed in 537,
-
just about when Europe was entering its Dark Ages.
-
For four centuries after that, Christians in Europe looked to Constantinople as the leading
-
city in Christendom
-
and this was its leading church.
-
This clever dome-upon-dome construction was the biggest dome
-
anywhere until the cathedral of Florence was finished during the Renaissance
-
900 years later.
-
The vast interior gives the impression of a golden weightless shell,
-
gracefully disguising the massive overhead load
-
supported by masterful Byzantine engineering.
-
Forty arched windows shed a soft light on the interior, showing off the church's
-
original marble and glittering mosaics.
-
But the Byzantine Empire collapsed in the 15th century, and Hagia Sophia
-
was turned into a mosque. Christian mosaics were plastered over, and new
-
religious symbols replaced the old.
-
This church was built to face Jerusalem;
-
mosques face Mecca.
-
When Hagia Sophia became a mosque, they couldn't move the church, but they could move
-
the focal point of the praying. Notice how the prayer niche is just
-
a little bit off-center.
-
That's because it faces Mecca.
