Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/460

444 centuries which elapsed from the transference of the capital to Byzantium till the building of the great mediæval cathedrals which can be compared with it. Indeed, it remains even now an open question whether a Christian church exists anywhere, of any age, whose interior is so beautiful as that of this marvellous creation of old Byzantine art.

The original church of Sta. Sophia which had been erected by Constantine was, it seems, burnt to the ground in the fifth year of Justinian, 532, when he determined to re-erect it on the same spot with more magnificence and with less combustible materials. So rapidly were the works pushed forward, that in six years it was ready for dedication, 537. Twenty years afterwards a portion of the dome fell down in consequence of an earthquake; but this damage was repaired, and the church re-dedicated, 503, in the form, probably very nearly, in which we now find it.

In plan it closely approaches an exact square, being 235 ft. north and south by 250 east and west, exclusive of the narthex and apse. The narthex itself is a splendid hall, 205 ft. in length internally, by 26 ft. wide, and two stories in height. Beyond this there is an exo-narthex which runs round the whole of the outer court, but this hardly seems to be part of the original design. Altogether, the building, without this or any adjuncts which may be afterthoughts, covers about 70,000 sq. ft., or nearly the average area of a mediæval cathedral of the first class.

Externally the building (Woodcut No. 889) possesses little architectural beauty beyond what is due to its mass and the varied outline arising from the mechanical contrivances necessary to resist the thrust of its internal construction. It may be that, like the early Christian basilicas at Rome, it was purposely left plain to distinguish it from the external adornment of Heathen temples, or it may have been intended to revêt it with marble, and add the external ornament afterwards. Before we became acquainted with the ornamented exteriors of Syrian churches, the former theory would seem the more plausible, though it can hardly now be sustained; and when we consider that the second dedication only took place the year before Justinian's death, and how soon troublous times followed, we may fairly assume that what we now see is only an incomplete design. Whatever may be the case with the exterior, all the internal arrangements are complete, and perfect both from a mechanical and an artistic point of view. In such a design as this, the first requirement was to obtain four perfectly stable arches on which the dome might rest. The great difficulty was with the two arches running transversely north and south. These are as nearly as may be 100 ft. span and 120 high to the crown, and 10 ft. on the face. Each of them has a mass of masonry behind it for an abutment, 75 ft. long by 25 ft. wide, only partially pierced by arches