Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the aesthetic data enshrined in the sixth-century architecture and decoration of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, in literary responses to the edifice, and in contemporary theological and philosophical debates about the material world as a manifestation of the transcendent divine. The focus of this book is the conceptual dimension of the sixth-century church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople as a work of art and as the result of a specific early Byzantine aesthetics. The architects created an ecclesiastical space within which the concept of divine immanence and transcendence could be apprehended in the material form of colour and light. It explores how light was artistically implemented in the design of Hagia Sophia by analysing the architectural and decorative components that contributed to or defined the illumination and luminosity of the building's interior.