Hagia
Sophia | Setting & Function
Professor Robert Ousterhout
Adjacent
to the Great Palace, the patriarchal residence of Constantinople,
the Hagia Sopha was planned from the start to assume a central
position within the city. It provided a setting for rituals
that gave Byzantine society its sense of identity, both religious
and imperial ceremonies that emphasized the unity of church
and state. As such, we might consider that it is a matter not
so much of "form follows function" as form magnifies and enhances
function through the interaction of ceremony and setting.
