ABSTRACT
The lack of monumental figurative art in the original design of Hagia Sophia was not, as has previously been argued, a choice of compromise but very much a conscious aesthetic decision.1 Combined with the abundance of light streaming in through the multitude of windows and augmented by extensive artificial lighting installations, the mosaics functioned perfectly within the visual totality of the building’s interior. The mosaics lined the vaults with a continuous and reflective polychrome skin, dominated by the sign of the cross, some stylised floral motifs and endlessly repeating geometric patterns, thus contributing to a homogeneous and unified visual impression. Architectural structure, decoration and illumination are integrated into an encompassing entity. As Cormack fittingly observed, ‘these mosaics offered a highly successful visual, mesmeric effect’.2 It is this mesmeric effect that was the motivating feature underlying the design of Hagia Sophia in its entirety. The message contained in and conveyed by the mosaics can consequently be used to build up a framework for the wider interpretation of Hagia Sophia as a building and monument.
