Byzantine Art: Justinian and Hagia Sophia

One of the goals of Justinian emperor was to confirm that the church he built was larger than any other church. To accomplish this goal, Justinian Emperor hired physicist Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of mathematician Tralles. The Cathedral was later used as Roman Catholic Cathedral (Mainstone 162). As you can see from the account of Procopius, Justinian is working on construction. Most of his excellent buildings are the church of Constantinople including Hagia Sophia.

Architecture - The most important structure of the Golden Age of Byzantine art was the construction of Hagia Sophia by the Constantino emperor Constantinople. Justinian hired two famous architects, Tralles Anthemius and Miletus Isidorius for the project. In addition to Ayasopia, the building of San Vitale and Santa Polinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy also showed the revival of the Western Empire under the rule of Orthodox.

Many of the great monuments of the empire are built under the rule of Justinian, including the sacred church and spectacular dome of Hagia Sophia. Justinian also improved and codified the laws of Rome, established Byzantine legal codes that lasted for hundreds of years, and helped shape the concept of contemporary nations. When Justinian died, the Byzantine Empire occupied the largest and most powerful country in Europe. But debts caused by war pushed the empire into a terrible economic hardship and his successor was obliged to tax Byzantine citizens to keep the empire alive.

The most wonderful achievement of Byzantine architecture is the sacred wisdom church or Hagia Sophia. It was built in just 5 years (532-37) during the Justinian ruling period. Although Hagia Sophia has no clear premise for ancient buildings, it should be regarded as a final experiment of a unified space that has achieved a unified dimension for centuries. Through the history of Byzantine religious buildings, the structure of the central plan continues to be endorsed. This structure may have considerable variation in the plane, the common point is the advantage of the central dome space, the sides and parts are maintained by the smaller dome and half dome across the surrounding space.