Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/206

 188 THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. The domes were resplendent with gold, and the buildings, from the natural formation of the land, rose in tiers behind each other, intermingled with cypresses and brighter trees in a manner which even now makes the view of Constantinople from the sea one of the most charming and impressive in the world. Churches, columns, palaces, castles, towers, statues, and masses of houses rose before the spectator in picturesque con- fusion. /When the traveller landed the narrow streets and overhanging houses did not produce the same disagreeable effect upon him that they do upon the modern visitor to Constantinople, because he was unfamiliar with better streets, while the signs of abundant wealth, both public and private, filled him with amazement. The whole empire had been put under contribution for the adornment of the capital. The temples and public building of Greece, of Asia Minor, and of the islands of the Archipelago, had been ransacked to embel- lish what its inhabitants spoke of as the Queen City, and even Egypt had contributed an obelisk and many other monu- ments. The Great Church was at once the most prominent object in the city and the most interestins^ and character- HagiaSophia. . . -r, i i ^^^ - ^ -, ^ istic. Its noble dome still remains the wonder and the admiration of architects. Its internal arrangements and its symmetrical proportions have never been excelled. Not only was it the model for all subsequent Eastern church archi- tecture and the noblest church then existing in the world, but it was the centre of the life of the capital. The history of what passed within its walls and in its courts is the history of Constantinople from the time of its construction to that when rays. Under its column, -which still exists in Constantinople, and is known as the Burnt Column, -were buried the ancient palladium of the Elder Rome and a piece of the true cross. Some of the coins of Con- stantino have on one side the monogram of Christ, and on the other Apollo, with the inscription " Sol invictus.^' Ilagia Sophia was rebuilt by Justinian. The present Ilagia Irene was probably built in the ninth century. Both these churches remain. Ilagia Anastasia, which might have become the temple of the pagan feast of the resurrection of nature, no lonrjer exists.