ABSTRACT
Defying the laws of gravity for more than a millennium and a half, Hagia Sophia’s dome still suspends from above firmly and strikingly. Like myths, it is a poetic construction created by a wholly corporeal imagination where gravity meets levity and dreamscape meets real space. Covered in pure gold mosaics, the ceiling is the source of continuous radiant light as if it is not generated by the sun but from within itself. The interplay of this abundant light reflected on to the dome’s gold surface and being reflected from there throughout the church enhances the hovering effect as if the dome is suspended from heaven by that fabled golden chain. Reading through various ekphrases and myths, this chapter unfolds the dome’s mythopoeic space as an inviting place for reveries.
