How Do The Architecture And Ornament Of Hagia Sophia Reinforce The Divinely Sanctioned Power Of The Byzantine Emperor? Essay

The name Hagia Sophia means holy wisdom and its architects were Arthemius the mathematician of Tralles and Isidorus the physicist from Miletus. Both the state and the church were taken to be symbolically in unison once the emperor was in the sanctuary. It was believed that the building of the church was the heavens court on earth. The sanctuary could only be entered in by the Byzantine emperor and the clergy. The following are the some of the ways that the architecture and ornament of Hagia Sophia reinforces the staying of Byzantine emperor.
The layout and the segmentation of the building also made it suitable for accommodating the divinely sanctioned power of Byzantine emperor. The nave was the part of the Hagia Sophia that was preserved to the clergy while the galleries and aisles was the part of Hagia Sophia that was preserved to the congregation. Apart from the congregation, there was the central or imperial door which was meant for the utilization by the Byzantine Emperor.
Further, the conducive atmosphere such as good lighting and decoration also made the place suitable for the emperor. The main source of light of the Hagia Sophia was the windows at the domes base; the windows are 40 in number. The decoration of the Hagia Sophia included the same forty windows that provided the light needed to illuminate silver and gold walls, the polychrome marble that painted many colors, finely wrought candelabra which was shaped by hammer, the illuminated books that were bound by both ivory and gold. The forty windows also illuminated the inlaid enamels and jewels.
The construction materials of Hagia Sophia included stone, bricks that made the walls, aisles, vault, screen walls, half semicircular domes and full domes; these made it favorable for the emperor and empress to attend the service owing to the safeness. The bricks also made the supporting piers known as ashlar masonry. The plan and the structure of Hagia Sophia included the Pandentives. These were helpful since they helped transfer the weight of the domes to piers that were beneath, this helped create an impression of suspended dome above. This also paced the dome that was hemispherical to be on top a domed basilica that was square in the base. This was contrary to the circular base support since the support of the dome was completely different from the earlier buildings that were domed.