| Transcript |
WITH THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA MINOR. 47
length is 269. Over the centre of the cross rises the dome. This dome is called " aerial,"
because it is so constructed that its height is only one-sixth of its diameter, and its curve
so flat that its convexity seems to correspond with that of the sky, and be a portion only of
the great firmament, let down, and suspended, as the Greeks say, by a chain. To effect
this, it is built of materials of the least possible gravity, pumice-stone, specifically lighter
than the water on which it floats, and bricks from Rhodes five times less weighty than
those of ordinary burnt clay. The vast dome, thus reduced in weight, is further secured
by the pillars on which it rests. These are ponderous piles of freestone, made of blocks
hewn into cubes and triangles, united by huge cramps of iron. It is partly by this
judicious distribution of its materials, that the vast edifice has stood so long unshaken by
those shocks of earthquakes, which have prostrated so many other edifices in the same
period.
The mosque is entered by a portico twelve yards in breadth; this communicates with
another by nine gates with marble arches, closed by valves of rich bronze cast in high
relief: this opens into another parallel to it. These vestibules formed what is called the
narthex, or pronaos, of the Greek Christian church. Here stood the font where catechumens were baptized, and penitents were placed before they presumed, or were deemed
worthy to enter the naos, or body, of the sacred edifice. From hence they passed into
the interior by five doors of plain bronze.
The first object that strikes, on entering the body of the edifice, is the vast aerial
dome, rising to the height of 180 feet above the flooring, reposing on four massive
arches, forming the segments of semi-domes, and supported by others still less. The dome
is perforated by twenty-six windows, and a multitude of others appear in the perspective. On each side are colonnades supporting galleries, one of which was reserved for
the emperor, and called the Gallery of Constantine. Round the base of the dome runs
another gallery, at a great elevation. It is splendidly illuminated during the evenings of
the Ramazan and other Turkish festivals, and produces a magnificent effect. Different
parts of the edifice are supported by 104 pillars, amongst which are eight of porphyry
removed by Constantine from the temple of the Sun at Rome, and six of green jasper
from the temple of Diana at Ephesus. The sun was the tutelary deity of the emperor
while he continued a heathen; when he adopted a better, he removed those ornaments
of the temples both of Apollo and Diana, to enrich the temple of Christ. The walls and
domes are encrusted with mosaic, which forms various figures and devices. They have
been nearly obliterated by the Turks. There yet remain, however, great winged
seraphims in the four angles under the central dome, whose faces are mutilated
because they represented the human countenance. The rest are covered over with
Arabic inscriptions from the Koran, and among them the 104 attributes of Allah,
which every Turk is bound to repeat over in his daily prayers. The mosaic of the
dome is constantly falling from its cement, and is found to consist of small cubes about
the size of playing-dice, of various-coloured glass, which the imaums collect and sell to
Franks, who have them formed and set in crosses, and thus commemorate that faith
for which the mosque was originally built. |
