Little Hagia Sophia

Little Hagia Sophia (Turkish: Kucuk Ayasofya Camii), formerly the Church of the Saints Sergius and Bacchus is a former Eastern Orthodox church converted into a mosque by the Ottomans.Located between Hagia Sophia and Sultanahmet Square.

This Byzantine building with a central dome plan was erected in the 6th century and was a model for the Hagia Sophia, the main church of the Byzantine Empire. It is one of the most important early Byzantine buildings in Istanbul. The church was dedicated to the Saints Sergius and Bacchus.

The building lies in Istanbul, in the district of Eminonu and in the neighbourhood of Kumkapi, at a short distance from the Marmara Sea, near the ruins of the Great Palace and to the south of the Hippodrome. It is now separated from Maramara Sea by the Sirkeci-Halkali railway line and the coastal road.

After the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the church remained untouched until the reign of Bayezid II. Then (between 1506 and 1513) it was transformed into a mosque by Huseyin Aga, the chief of the Aghas, who were the custodians of the Bab-i-Saadet (literally The Gate of Felicity in Ottoman Turkish) in the Sultan's residence, the famous Topkapi Palace. At that time the portico and a madrasah were added to the building, while the mosaics which adorned the church were covered with white plaster and painted. To the north of the building a turbe was then built for Huseyin.In 1740 the Grand Vizier Haci Ahmet Pasa restored the mosque and built the Sadirvan (fountain). Damage caused by the earthquakes of 1648 and 1763 were repaired in 1831 under the reign of Sultan Mahmud II. In 1762 the minaret was first built. It was demolished in 1940 and built again in 1956.

The pace of decay of the building, which already suffered because of humidity and earthquakes through the centuries, accelerated after the construction of the railroad. The laying down of the railroad caused parts of St. Peter and Paul to be demolished to the south of the building. Other damage was caused by the building's use as housing for the refugees during the Balkan Wars.

Due to the increasing threats to the building's static integrity, it was added some years ago to the UNESCO watchlist of endangered monuments. After an extensive restoration which lasted several years and ended in September 2006, it has been opened again to the public and to worship.

The masonry adopts the usual technique of that time in Constantinople, which uses bricks sunk in thick beds of mortar. The walls are reinforced by chains made of small stone blocks.

The building, the central plan of which was consciously repeated in the basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna and served as a model for the famous Ottoman architect Sinan in the construction of the Rustem Pasha Mosque, has the shape of an octagon inscribed in an irregular quadrilateral. It is surmounted by a beautiful umbrella dome, built with light material, which stands on eight pillars. The narthex lies on the west side, opposed to an antecorus. Many effects in the building were later used in Hagia Sophia: the exedrae expand the central nave on diagonal axes, colorful columns screen the ambulatories from the nave, and light and shadow contrast deeply on the sculpture of capitals and entablature.

Inside the edifice there is a beautiful two-storey colonnade which runs along the N, W and S sides, and bears an elegant inscription in twelve Greek hexameters dedicated to the Emperor, his wife, Theodora, and Saint Sergius, the patron-saint of the soldiers of the Roman army. The lower storey has 16 columns, while the upper has 18. Many of the capitals still bear the monograms of Justinian and Theodora.In front of the building there is a portico (which replaced the atrium) and a court (both added during the Ottoman period), with a small garden, a fountain for the ablutions and several small shops. North of the edifice there is a small Muslim cemetery near the Turbe of Huseyin Aga, the founder of the Mosque. The Ottomans also added a minaret, modified the windows and the entrance, rose the floor level, and plastered and painted the interior.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org