Indoor Heavens
The dome of Istanbul's Hagia
Sophia (Aya Sofya) has
always been its most amazing
feature: daringly
broad (for the 6th
century, when it was built).
I've always found it amazing
that the windows around
the base of the dome are an
important reason for its strength.
I would have thought just the
opposite.
But age does ravage even the
strongest buildings, which is
why the scaffolding has
been erected: to repair the mosaics you
see here gleaming in the dome.
The goal is to restore them to
the beauty they possessed in Byzantine times.
In this photo the scaffolding
is actually rather dramatic,
amost an asset to the image.... |
