Pendentives of Hagia Sophia The early Christian/Byzantine era was very important to the world of design. In this time period several new innovative ideas were introduced to the world through the construction of the numerous magnificent churches and various influential buildings. One of the most famous churches from the Byzantine era and in the history of architecture is the Hagia Sophia, or the Church of Holy Wisdom, in Constantinople. This is where one of the most important architectural developments is first seen and successfully constructed, the pendentive. The construction of the Hagia Sophia began in 532 CE and was quickly finished by 537 CE by Anthemius of Tralleis and Isidorus of Miletus, or Isidorus the Elder. The dome looked magnificent, …show more content…
What is left of the original hemisphere is called a pendentive dome. Each vertical cut will be in the shape of a semicircle. Sometimes these semicircles were built as independent arches to support the upper spherical surface of the dome. If the top of the orange is cut off horizontally at the height of the top of these semicircles, the traingular pieces still left will be exactly the shape of pendentives. This new circle can be made the base for a new complete dome, or a vertical cylinder can be built upon it to support another dome higher up. (Hamlin …show more content…
However, the pendentives and the main dome of the Hagia Sophia are unique. These pendentives were made of marble and as described by PBS, “The shallow dome was made from 40 equally spaced ribs. Forty windows were then set at the dome's base, creating the sensation that the dome actually floated over the church”(Wonders of the World Databank: Hagia Sophia). The use of pendentives made this brilliant design possible. Before the invention of pendentives, the costruction of large domes was a limited task. The Romans had constructed a large dome on the Pantheon several years before, but were only able to achieve this by making the building itself round, but the walls could not sustain a true dome and as a result the dome is flat. Other methods of constructing domes at that time included using squinches with four arches to support the domes. However, these previous methods limited how tall and wide a dome could be making them less monumental, but with the use of pendentives, in that time period, the possiblities were