The Church of Sancta Sophia, Constantinople: A Study of Byzantine Building

by W. R. Lethaby; Harold Swainson

In the exonarthex there are cross groins with arches between. The arches have a span of fourteen and a half feet and an abutment of seven feet. This seems to be of a later construction than the rest of the vaulting, and not improbably, as well as the piers, belongs to a reconstruction of this porch, undertaken to strengthen the west wall of the narthex.

All the arches of the nave which stand on columns have iron ties; and to the three large openings of the gynaeceum at the west end of the nave there are wooden binders as well. In the lower rows of windows beneath the dome on both the north and south sides of the nave iron ties can be seen, which seem to stretch across the whole width of the large arches which support the dome.

Roofs.—All the exterior vaults are covered with lead about a quarter of an inch thick, which rests on a layer of wooden battens placed immediately upon the brick vaults. There are several passages and staircases for access to the roofs. Access to the exterior of the side aisles and narthex is gained by the staircases in the buttress piers: the stairs are supported on brick arches. In the north-east pier the stair space is only four feet eight inches by six feet seven inches, and in this are placed the flights of stairs two feet eight inches wide, with a space of fifteen inches between.[258] At the top of each flight spaces are hollowed out in the wall, which serve as landings from one flight to another.

These stairs ascend above the roofs of the side aisles to the upper part of the buttress piers, from which open passages, with breast-walls on either side, lead above the buttress piers to the angles at the base of the dome. There were two flights of steps leading to the platform of the dome: one of these on the south-east, which Salzenberg shows dotted in Plate viii., is still quite preserved, though injured at the upper end; remains too can still be traced of the north-west stair. A door now built up, on the north side of the south-east stair, and remains of vaulting in the north-west stair, seem to show that other passages must have existed.

The roof of the cylindrical vaulting at the west end of the nave is reached by means of stairs in the small round towers, which flank it on the outside.[259] These turrets can also be reached from the roof of the narthex. Another passage runs along under the narthex roof at the west (Salz., Plate ix.), which has an opening close to the upper surface of the vaulting, and from thence any part above the nave can be reached. Probably this was formerly used for the lighting of the church. To reach the cornice at the foot of the dome there was an opening in the wall under one of the dome windows.

Decorative Work.—All the constructional forms were shown boldly on the outside without any adornment; the west front of the narthex next to the atrium was alone covered with slabs of Proconnesian marble, some of which are still preserved, but the upper wall surfaces were perfectly plain.

In the interior the whole of the walls are plated with rare variegated marbles, and the vaults are covered with glass mosaic. Two chief masses of colour in the nave are separated horizontally by a cornice, and another cornice forms the springing for the vaulting. There are also cornices at the foot of the dome, and around the walls of the aisles. All these are of carved white marble in simple profiles. The lower range of arch spandrils between the piers of the nave is formed of slabs of white marble completely covered with carving: the upper spandrils above the gynaeceum arches have sectile work of coloured marbles. The carving is sharply cut, but conforms very closely to the general surfaces; according to the old descriptions it was gilt, and remains of colour still extant show some of the leaf-ornament coloured with a dark red.[260]

Columns.—Amongst the columns are beautiful examples of the dark green Thessalian marble, now called verde antico. Of this are formed all the round columns in the nave and ground-floor aisles, with the exception of the eight in the four exedras, which are of dark Theban porphyry. It could not have been always possible to find a sufficient number of columns of the same height and diameter, and the transport of them must have been frequently accompanied by injuries of one kind or another. There are differences between similarly situated columns, and in many cases mended fractures appear on the surface of the marble. In no cases are antique capitals placed on these columns. All the capitals and bases are of Proconnesian marble, and were wrought by Byzantine chisels.

The greater part of the capitals are similar in design, though their size varies in proportion to the height of the columns which support them. Salzenberg, in Figs, 1 and 3 of his Plate xv., shows one of the capitals of the great order. The leaf-work on them—partly acanthus and partly palm—is very deeply undercut, and lies almost clear of the ground underneath. In the middle of front and back are monograms.

Under the capitals are bronze rings eleven and half inches high; each is composed of three members, with a wrought lock on the side towards the nave, on which is repeated the monogram of each capital. At the foot of the columns above the bases are similar rings nine inches high. These rings occur on all the old columns, with the exception of the two dual columns of the west gallery. They seem to be let into the shaft, and, according to the description of the Silentiary, they were gilded. In addition to these rings, there are on other columns—as, for instance, the porphyry columns of the exedras—simple rings, rectangular in section, in positions where cracks and injuries appear; there being three or four such rings on a column at different heights. It is possible that some of these are of Turkish origin.