The dome is supported by four pendentives, one of the first large-scale uses of pendentives. The Hagia Sophia is the second-largest pendentive dome in the world, after St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. There are two semi-domes on either side, one at the altar and the other at the main entrance.

What supported the dome of Hagia Sophia?

triangular pendentives

Hagia Sophia is best known for its magnificent and massive dome supported by four concave triangular pendentives, making the whole structure appear to float.

What supports the weight of the dome of the Hagia Sophia?

Hagia Sophia makes use of four triangular pendentives which allow for the weight of the circular dome to transition to a square supporting superstructure below without massive pillars or columns interrupting the internal space.

What architectural form primarily supports the dome of Hagia Sophia?

pendentives

The Hagia Sophia combines a longitudinal basilica and a centralized building in a wholly original manner, with a huge 32-metre (105-foot) main dome supported on pendentives and two semidomes, one on either side of the longitudinal axis.

How is the main dome of Hagia Sophia supported quizlet?

The dome was supported through the use of pendentives. The architects wanted the dome to appear almost as if it were “floating” above the walls –> using lots of windows at base of dome.

How is the dome of the Rock supported?

The rotunda is supported by four piers and 12 columns. Between the piers and columns span semi-circular arches, the façades and surfaces of which are decorated with mosaic tiles and colourful epigraphic texts. The rotunda is covered by a double dome.

How is the dome supported in the pantheon?

The drum and step-rings (the stacked, shallow cylinders at the base of the dome) support around 65 percent of the dome’s weight. The dome’s careful weight distribution minimized the amount of its unsupported weight, strengthening and stabilizing the overall structure.

Which materials make Hagia Sophia stand up?

Hagia Sophia is a brick building basically, only the foundations and supports that make the eight initial buttresses were built using large blocks of limestone.

How is the Hagia Sophia earthquake proof?

London – The Sixth Century builders of Hagia Sophia, the Byzantine cathedral still standing in Istanbul, discovered cement with earthquake-resistant properties 1 300 years before anyone else, a research team revealed on Wednesday.

How did the architects of Hagia Sophia support a round dome on a square base?

How was the square base able to support a round dome? Used pendentives, comes down on a series of four arches where the space between the four arches and the dome form triangular, curved spaces. The architects hid the dorm piers that are supporting the weight of the dome.

How did the architects of Hagia Sophia support a round dome on a square base?

How was the square base able to support a round dome? Used pendentives, comes down on a series of four arches where the space between the four arches and the dome form triangular, curved spaces. The architects hid the dorm piers that are supporting the weight of the dome.

What supports the arches of Byzantine churches?

There was no official church blueprint imposed by the church hierarchy, but the cross-in-square plan became the most common with a dome built over four supporting arches using pendentives – curved triangular forms to bridge the gap between adjoining arches and convert a square base into a circular one.

What is unique about the dome of Hagia Sophia?

But it was the dome that made Hagia Sophia the most complex building of antiquity. 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. In 559 A.D., an earthquake tumbled the dome.