Mosaics of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul: The Fossati Restoration and the Work of the Byzantine Institute

Hagia Sophia, what the Byzantines called the Great Church, has had many lives: imperial monument built by Justinian in 532–37 immediately following and in response to serious urban rioting; cathedral of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, principal setting for religious and political ceremonies to the end of the empire; Jami or chief mosque of the capital of the Ottoman Empire, ceremonial setting adjacent to another imperial palace, now that of the Sultan; and today, a state museum and major tourist attraction. Twice during the past 150 years, the grand medieval and early modern church/mosque met modernity. In 1847–49, and after the secularization of the mosque in 1931, the building was “restored.” That restoration did not, of course, return the building to its prior life or lives. Like all such projects, it instead gave it a new and different life, helping the church/mosque to become a monument. And it allowed important phases of the Byzantine building, especially its mosaics, to be uncovered. The present small book is a record of an exhibition that took place at Dumbarton Oaks in 1998 in conjunction with a major symposium on “Constantinople: The Fabric of the City,” organized by Henry Maguire and Robert Ousterhout