SAINT SOPHIA, CHURCH AND MOSQUE OF. a celebrated structure at Constantinople, long an object of great interest to all visitors of that city. It was origin:thy latiit lms the emperor Constantine iu 325-326, oil occasion of the translation of the seat of m nil ire to Byzantium; and is so called as being dedicated. Hot, as commonly supposed. to c. s: int of that name, but to the Ilagia Sophia (holy wisdom), that is to the etet nal wis:han of God or the Logos, the second person of the Trinity. The building of Cobs:18r.1u1e was subsequently rebuilt and enlarged by his son Constantius; and this secend eltur•h of Constantius having been destroyed in 404, was rebuilt by Theodosius the youilger in 415; and it lasted unaltered till the celebrated Mika sedition, or battle of the factions of the circus, under Justinian, in 532, ill it was totally destroyed. 'I he present building is substantially that which was erected by Justinian in exohition of this saeri leo.e. It occupied less than seven years in its erection, and the history of the work and of details of its material and its construction are full of marvels. Ten thousand workmen are said to have been employed upon it. The materials were supplied from every part of the empire, anti comprised remains of almost every celebrated temple of the ancient paganism. The sedilia of the priests and those of the pr,miarch were of silver gilt. The dome of the tabernacle was of pure gold, and was surmounted by a gold cross weighing 75 lbs., and incrusted with previous stones. All the sacred vessels and other apparatus were of gold. The allar-cloths were embroidered with gold and pearls; and the altar itself was composed of a mass of molten gold, into which were thrown pearls, sapphires, diamonds, onyxes, and every other object which could raise its costli ness to the highest imaginable degree. The total cost of the structure is stated by the ancient authorities at 320,000 pounds. Some regard this as you of silver, others as of gold. One of the latest writers on the subject, Mr. Neale (Eastern Chili ch., vol. i. p. 237), adopts time latter estimate, and thus computes the cost at the enormous sum of X18,000.000.
The building may be described as a square of 241 ft., forming interiorly a Greek cross, and surrounded in the interior by a woman's choir or gallery, supported by mag nificent pillars, for the most part laurimwed from ancient buildings. In the cen.er r_ses
a dome, which is supported by two great semi-domes, which in their turn rest upon smaller semi-domes, the whole pi esenting a series of unexampled beauty. The height of the dome is 175 feet. The building is approached by a double porch, which is ,.bout 100 ft, in depth. The whole of the interior was richly decorated with sculptured marble and mosaics Even in the reign of Justinian, a reconstruction of the building became necessary, the dome having. fallen in, on an earthquake; but this may be said to have been the last important change in the structure within the Christian period of Constantinople.
On the occupation of that city by the Turks in 1453, St. Sophia was appropriated as a mosque. All its purely Christian fittings and internal structures were swept away. The Christian emblems were either mutilated or covered up from view by ai ramming of plaster. The latter course was adopted throughout the building in the case mosaic pictures containing representations of the 11111Aall figure, which the Koran prosciibes as unlawful, and thus the original mosaics of the Justinian era have in great part escaped destruction. Some years since. the late sultan, Abdul Medjid, havieg, ordered a com plete restoration of the building, these mosaics were accidently brmight 10 light, and, with the consent of_the sultan, artists were sent out from Berlin. with the assist ance of the architect employed by the Turkish government, made accurate copies of all these interesting relics of antiquity, which have been published el., the expense of the Prussian government by M. Salzenberg, the artist thus employed by the king Th. interior of the building at present is very judiciously restored for Mohammedan wor ship, the Christian decorations being again carefully covered rap, coated with plaster in imitation mosaic-work. Like all mosques, St. Sophia is closed against Christian visitors except upon special finnan, whieh, however, is easily obtained, and the privilege may be had at small expense by the traveler through the interposition of the masters of the principal hotels.—See Von Hammer's Constantinepolis der Bosporus (2 vols. Pesch, 1822); Salzenberg's Alt-Chri4liche Bandenkmale Konstantinopas (Berlin, 1854); Harrhes, Aya Sofia Constantinople (London, 1854); also Lelia. Re&lew, April, 1865, p. 456, a-nd loll