Istanbul Guide

56

AYA SOFYA – Ground Floor & Upstairs Galleries

Ramp to Upstairs Galleries

Atrium (Courtyard) SULTANAHMET & AROUND AYA SOFYA Main Entrance Cafe/ Bookshop

St John Chrysostom (upstairs)

Elevated Kiosk

Weeping Column

Exit from Galleries

Seraph (upstairs)

Christ as Pantocrator

St Ignatius Theodorus of Antioch (upstairs)

St Ignatius the Younger (upstairs)

Virgin & Christ Child

Outer Narthex

Inner Narthex

Nave

Dome

Apse

Imperial Door

Archangels Gabriel & Michael (fragments)

Omphalion

Viking Graffiti (upstairs)

Deesis (Last Judgement) (upstairs)

The Virgin Mary, Emperor John Comnenus II & Empress Eirene (upstairs)

Gift Shop

Tomb of Enrico Dandolo (upstairs)

Constantine the Great, the Virgin Mary & Emperor Justinian

Security Check

Courtyard (Baptistry)

Christ Enthroned with Empress Zoe & Constantine IX Monomachos (upstairs)

Beautiful Gate

Ticket Office

Exit

Former Baptistry

Fountain

Ottoman Tombs

Primary School

In the side aisle at the bottom of the ramp to the upstairs galleries is a column with a worn copper facing pierced by a hole. According to legend, the pillar, known as the Weeping Column , was blessed by St Gregory the Miracle Worker and putting one’s finger into the hole is said to lead to ailments being healed if the finger emerges moist. Nearby, informative films are shown about Aya Sofya’s structure and history. Dome Aya Sofya’s dome is 30m in diameter and 56m in height. It’s supported by 40 massive ribs constructed of special hollow bricks, and these ribs rest on four huge pillars concealed in the interior walls. On its completion, the Byzantine historian Procopius described it as being ‘hung from heaven on a golden chain’, and it’s easy to see why. The great Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan, who spent his entire professional life trying to design a mosque to match the magnificence and beauty of Aya Sofya, used the same trick of concealing pillars and ‘floating’ the dome when designing the Süleymaniye Mosque almost 1000 years later. Upstairs Galleries To access the galleries, walk up the switchback ramp at the northern end of the inner narthex. In the south gallery (straight ahead and then left through the 6th-century marble door) are the remnants of a magnificent Deesis (Last Judgement). This 13th-century mosaic depicts Christ with the Virgin Mary on his right and John the Baptist on his left. Close by is the Tomb of Enrico Dandolo , a blind Venetian doge who led the Sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade (1202–04) and died soon