There is a decorated inscription which is mostly erased around them, which says: ‘’The images which impostors cast down here pious emperors have again set up’’. The inscription commemorates the restorations made by Basil I and Michael III after the Iconoclast period, during which this mosaic was hidden.

It was uncovered in 867 by Photius the Patriarch. And from that time, even after the conquest by Mehmed II, this mosaic was never veiled again. Although all mosaics were made after iconoclastic period, it is the oldest mosaic of Hagia Sophia.

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There are depictions of fruit & fish. The room was used by the priests for their religious meetings. It is said that the room also housed the Synod Council in 1166 and the decisions taken by them were displayed on marble tablets on the walls of outer narthex. (See also Synod Tablets)

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Pantheon

The first dome built by Anthemius & Isidorus was planned as a circle. However; it turned out to be an ellipse. When  the dome collapsed mostly during on earthquake in 558, Justinian commissioned Isidore the Younger whose structurally deformed work of art survives still today.

The dome is 31,7 meter in diameter and 55,6 meter high from floor level. It’s supported by the arches between piers, called pendentives which were unique at those times.

The sunlight which floats all around the church and shines upon the gilded mosaics enters mostly from the forty windows encircling the base of the dome. The windows are not only a source of light but also an alarm of a breakdown in the dome. They also relax the pressure of the dome on the pendentives.

‘’Indeed one might say that its interior isn’t illuminated from without by the sun, but that radiance comes into being within it, such an abundance of light bathes this shrine. ‘’ Procopius, Buildings

‘’…upon the crowns of the arches rests a circular structure, rounded in shape; it is from there that the light of day always smiles first… and resting upon this circular structure the huge dome makes it surpassingly beautiful…’’ Procopius, Buildings

The soil mixture of the dome consists of only mortar and brick. From time to time, restorations have been done to strengthen the structure.

It was believed that originally there was a huge cross and later a mosaic of Christ Pantocrator which is thought to have collapsed in a earthquake. During the Fossati Restoration, a verse from Quran was inscripted by M. İzzet Efendi in the center of dome.

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Today in the outer narthex, some relics (like a copy of Synod Tablets, Porphyr Altar, Snake Patterned Pool, Bell of Hagia Sophia and Sarcophagus of an Empress) from Hagia Sophia church are exhibited. Five gates lead into the inner narthex. The little domes of the inner narthex are covered with mosaics. There is a rampart leading to the upper gallery on the north side.

A Crested Brick

There is a crested brick on the ground floor beneath the Emperor’s door. This adobe brick was, by chance, upside and it was written: “Constantinople” on it.

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