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The Hagia Sophia was dedicated as Catherdral Baiscillica in 360 A.D. On 23 February 532, only a few days after the destruction of the second basilica, Emperor Justinian I took the decision to build a third and entirely different basilica, larger and more majestic than its predecessors.

Justinian chose the physicist Isidore of Miletusand the mathematician Anthemius of Tralles as architects;  The construction is described by the Byzantine historian Procopius‘ On Buildings (Peri ktismatōn, Latin:De aedificiis). The emperor had material brought from all over the empire, such as Hellenistic columns from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Large stones were brought from far-away quarries: porphyry from Egypt, green marble from Thessaly, black stone from the Bosporus region, and yellow stone from Syria. More than ten thousand people were employed during this construction. This new church was immediately recognized as a major work of architecture, demonstrating the creative insights of the architects. They may have used the theories of Heron of Alexandria to be able to construct a huge dome over such a large open space. The emperor, together with the patriarch Eutychius, inaugurated the new basilica on 27 December 537 with much pomp. The mosaics inside the church were, however, only completed under the reign of Emperor Justin II (565–578).

Hagia Sophia is one of the greatest surviving examples of Byzantine architecture. Of great artistic value was its decorated interior with mosaics and marble pillars and coverings. The temple itself was so richly and artistically decorated that Justinian proclaimed, “Solomon, I have outdone thee!”

Justinian’s Hagia Sophia is the one that stands today. It is an architectural intelligence and the first masterpiece in Byzantine architecture. It had been the largest cathedral in the world  for more than 1000 years.

The church has a rectangular shape, and the square vast square nave measuring 102ft is covered with a central dome that is carried on four pendentives. The arcade around the dome is unbroken with 91 arched windows to bring the light inside. Excluding the two narthexes and the large atrium, the basilica measures 229 x 245 ft . The atrium measures 157 x 106 ft and the total length of the construction measures 442 ft.

The Hagia Sophia was a church for about 1,000 years, then  a mosque from 1453 t0 1936, and a museum since.

Immediately after the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453, the Hagia Sophia was converted into the Ayasofya Mosque. At that time, the church was very dilapidated. Several of its doors had fallen off. The sultan ordered the immediate cleanup of the church and its conversion to a mosque.

During the reign of Selim II (1566–1577), the building started showing signs of fatigue and was extensively strengthened with the addition of structural supports to its exterior by the great Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan, who is also considered one of the world’s first earthquake engineers.^[12] In addition to strengthening the historic Byzantine structure, Sinan built the two additional large minarets at the western end of the building, the original sultan’s loge, and the mausoleum of Selim II to the southeast of the building (then a mosque) in 1577.

The dome of Hagia Sophia has spurred particular interest for many art historians, architects and engineers because of the innovative way the original architects envisioned the dome. The dome is supported bypendentives which had never been used before the building of this structure. The pendentive enables the dome to transition gracefully into the square shape of the piers below. The pendentives not only achieve a pleasing aesthetic quality, but they also restrain the lateral forces of the dome and allow the weight of the dome to flow downward.The dome of Hagia Sophia is incredible- about 100 feet in diameter and 160 feet high. Ther Hagia Sophia  was constructed  almost 1,000 years before with the much accalaimed dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi for the Duoma in Florence, Italy. This breath taking structure  is one of the real architectural phenomena’s of all time.

Mosiacs

Hagia Sophia was beautifully decorated with mosaics within the centuries during Byzantine period. These mosaics depicted Virgin Mary, Jesus, saints and emperors or empresses. The history of the earliest mosaics is unknown as many of them were destroyed or covered during Iconoclasm. During the fourth crusade in 1204, Latin Crusaders sacked many Byzantine buildings including Hagia Sophia. Many beautiful mosaics were removed and shipped to Venice. After the Ottoman occupation of Constantinople in 1453, with the transition of Hagia Sophia into mosque, the mosaics were covered whitewashed or plastered. With Fosatti brothers’ restoration in 1847, the mosaics got uncovered and were copied for record. But they still remained covered until 1931 when a restoration and recovery program began under the leadership of Thomas Whittemore. In 1934, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk ordered that Hagia Sophia would become a museum, the recovery and restoration expanded then. However, many of the great mosaics that Fosatti brothers recorded had disappeared probably with the earthquake in 1894.

Vitruvius was himself an architect. In Roman times architecture was a broader subject than at present including the modern fields of architecture, construction management, construction engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, materials engineering, mechanical engineering, military engineering and urban planning.

Palladio said  about the perfect home-” The need for a structure that is magnificent, yet inexpensive; comfortable yet functional.”

Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) is widely considered to be one of the most influential people in the history of Western architecture. He became well known after the publication of I Quattro Libri dell’Architettura – The Four Books of Architecture – in 1570. His success and influence were a result of his integration of extraordinary aesthetic quality with expressive characteristics that resonated with his clients’ social aspirations (Palladio online 2007). His integration of architectural beauty and profound meaning is apparent in three major building types: the urban palazzo, the agricultural villa, and the church. Interest in his style was renewed in later generations and became fashionable throughout Europe. Palladio found a powerful expression of the importance of the owner and his social position. His success as an architect was based not only on the beauty of his design, but also on its harmony with the social order and hierarchy of his time. Thus beauty served to illustrate a social order and culture.

The order he gives things – that’s where you see it,” Rogers explains. “For me, it’s the order and rhythm of buildings that is important, rather than specifics. The concept of architecture as frozen music and the recognition of a thoroughness with which everything is done, the idea that architecture has a narrative and a language of its own – I am very interested in these things.

“Scale, proportion, rhythm: these are words that I use a lot, and a great deal of this comes from Palladio.”

As amazing are the Native American ancient Anazii structures built n the 11th Century, here  are incredible  buildings carved into high elevations mountains in the Shanxii region in northwest Chin. These include the highest mountain ranges in China.  These were carved  from about the 5th century on.  Looking at the sheer mountain sides , I wonder how they arrive at these buildings and how the materials arrived at the site.