Click images to enlarge.   Hagia Sophia | Groundplan & Elevation Professor Robert Ousterhout Architectural Precedents Setting & Function Groundplan & Elevation Dome Structure & Structural Problems Innovative Trends Symbolic Resonance ------------------------ Back to Hagia Sophia Main Back to Briefing Main The architects successfully combined the longitudinal axis of a basilican plan [note traditional elements: atrium, narthex, nave, side aisles, galleries, clerestory, apse] with the centralizing focus, or vertical axis, of centrally-planned buildings expressed by the great dome [note rounding off at the four corners of the interior space with exedrae]. The two axes underscore two foci. The central dome and lateral half-domes form a great ciborium, like those traditionally located over the high altar, but blown up to monumental scale, sanctifying the space below. Istanbul, Hagia Sophia, Cross-section of the building on the north-south axis   Istanbul, Hagia Sophia, Cross-section of the building on the east-west axis     Istanbul, Hagia Sophia, Plan Istanbul, Hagia Sophia, Isometric diagram hagia sophia main briefing | image index | resources home page | site image index | site resources media center for art history, archaeology and historic preservation | columbia university