Hagia Sophia and the Great Imperial Mosques

Abstract

The present mosque of Hagia Sophia needs no introduction. Its checkered career through the greatness and decline of two empires is known to all. Its rank high in the list of the masterworks of architecture is generally conceded. But it is not, of course, the only great structure designed for religious congregation in Constantinople. There are several of the imperial mosques which in the magnitude of the architectural problem attempted may be considered in the same class. A unique situation thus exists, for nowhere else can be found gathered together in the same city a whole series of large buildings which so readily permit of common comparison. It is a little as if all the great Gothic cathedrals of France were concentrated in Paris. In studying these mosques from the critical point of view, and particularly from the point of view of enclosed space, it is interesting to estimate the success of the achieved solutions in reference to the effect produced by their illustrious predecessor. The comparison of them with Hagia Sophia is enlightening for both and it is my intention to attempt in some degree a comparison.