The Hagia Sophia, in modern day Istanbul was built in 537 A.D as the chief Imperial Cathedral of Constantinople, capital of the (Eastern) Roman Empire. It replaced the earlier cathedral of the city, built by Emperor Theodosius II, after it burned down during the Nika Riots of 532. The entire edifice was built in an astounding 4 years. The structure was not without its problems though, as the main dome collapsed in 558 and had to be replaced/reinforced. The cathedral went through several renovations over the centuries in response to earthquake and decay, the greatest of these, under Emperor Basil II. This renovation rebuild the western half dome, strengthened the great arches my making the windows smaller. A massive number of new mosaic images were also added during this renovation, as well as a commerative inscription.

The structure has stood for nearly two millenia as a Greek Orthodox Imperial Cathedral, a Catholic Cathedral, an Imperial Mosque and today, a secular museum. For just under 1000 years it was the largest church in the world and the pinnacle of Roman engineering/architecture.

This build also includes the other structures of the Patriarchal complex which have since been destroyed by time and decay. Including the great Augustaion square which was initially built as a forum by Septimius Severus in the 3rd Century, before being enlarged by Constantine in the 4th Century. It was destroyed during the Nika riots of 532, and along with the Hagia Sophia was rebuilt.

Its crowning monument was a huge honorific column to its builder, the Emperor Justinian. Which remained intact, with its statue until 1453, and without its statue until the early 1500's.

This build contains the Hagia Sophia and it's neighbouring Patriarchal structures as they may have looked around 1200 A.D, after the restorations of Emperor Basil II, but before the Sack of Constantinople in 1204

This is my second attempt at the Hagia Sophia. I was unhappy with how the last attempt turned out and decided to redo it with both my current building techniques and more accuracy in terms of architecture and scale.


Structures included are:

-Hagia Sophia (Church of Holy Wisdom)
-Hagia Sophia Atrium and fountain
-Chapel of the Holy well
-Metatorion
-Skeuophylakion
-Baptistery
-Patriarchal Palace
-Anabasion of the Chalkê
-Thomiates
-Makron
-Augustaion square
-Column of Justinian

I've also gone to great lengths to include every known mosaic and inscription recorded in the Hagia Sophia. Sources for these are provided below.

This was built using Minecraft Java, 1.10.2. I used only MCEdit to help speed up the building process. The scale used is 1:1, 1 block = 1 meter



Bibliography:

-"Mosaics of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul: The Fossati Restoration and the Work of the Byzantine Institute",
Natalia B. Teteriatnikov, 1998
-"The Mosaics of St. Sophia at Istanbul", Cyril Mango, 1972
-"The Art of the Byzantine Empire", Cyril Mango. 1986
-"The Patriarchal Palace at Constantinople in the seventh century:", Ken Dark/Jan Kostenec, 2014
-"Russian Pilgrims in Constantinople, George Majeska, 2002
-"Byzantine Court Culture from 829 to 1204. 1997
-"The Book of Ceremonies", 10th Century, English translation by Ann Moffatt and Maxeme Tall, 2012
-Molochbaal for some ideas in regards to the decoration of Metatorion and Patriarchate.