ABSTRACT
The Hagia Sophia's Church of the Holy Wisdom was the great church of Constantinople. Thomas Hopes reviews an Historical Essay on Architecture the British and Foreign Review observed that in St. Sophia traces the perfect germ of Christian style St. Sophia was becoming iconic to many Christians, and the building was very influential, it had more ecumenical adaptations in Britain including Joseph Sunlight's South Manchester Synagogue which, in truly ecumenical fashion, also had a tower based on that of Westminster cathedral. The fascination with St. Sophia was no. limited to Britain and the United States. The advent of lithography, and later photography, and then widely accessible reproductions, further spread knowledge of the building and inevitably of its earlier Christian identity. In the evolution of the preservation movement lithography and photography were important devices in popularizing many sites that later attracted movements for their preservation.
