Whenever I travel, one of the things I inevitably do is visit the biggest church in the place. And judging by the queues outside Notre Dame in Paris, and St Peter’s in Rome, I’m not alone.
But a few months ago when I was standing inside Hagia Sofia in Istanbul bending my neck right back so I could stare in awe at the domed ceiling high above me, a thought struck me: why doesn’t it fall down? It’s a huge space, with a large dome soaring over it. Sure there are some columns, but they’re off to the sides. I got a little nervous. It started me thinking about big domes I’ve stood under. I began to really appreciate and admire the people who built them. And be grateful for their engineering skills. This is definitely not a lesson in architecture—I do not pretend to understand it. But it’s my homage to some big, beautiful domes which I recommend you visit some day. In order of age:
The Pantheon, Rome, Italy
Photo source: Stanrandom’s at flicker (cc)
The Pantheon is a great building hiding in a square between the Tiber River and the main drag of Via del Corso (it’s covered on Viator’s Classical Rome Guided Tour). Built around 125 AD, it is the best-preserved Roman building in the world, has been in continuous use as a site of worship (first of Roman gods and since the 7th century as a Catholic church), and has a huge dome with no pillars!
Going inside The Pantheon is incredible. It has only a single door in its circular shape, and a hole (lantern) at the top of the dome to let in light. The dome is as tall as it is wide, 43.3m (142ft) and is supported on the circular walls. It’s made of concrete with light volcanic rock included to lessen the weight. So it doesn’t fall on our heads. Impressively, until the 19th century this was the widest dome in the world. I always find it a really intense experience being inside The Pantheon. To think that architects that long ago could work out a way to make this sort of building stand up. And do it so well that we can wander in there now with our digital cameras and mobile phones and iPods, all of which break after a year or two.
I confess I always take off my shoes to feel the cool marble under my feet. This could be my favorite building in the world. So simple, so remarkable. Of course The Pantheon became a model for many of the following amazing domes.
Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey
Photo source: Vanity Press at flicker (cc)
The unusual thing about this building (visited on a few of Viator’s Istanbul Architectural Tours) is that it started life around 530AD as a Christian church and was then transformed into a mosque in the 1450s, when the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople (as it was known until it officially became Istanbul in 1930). Bells and altars were removed and minarets were added giving the building the appearance it has today. Now it is a museum. But its greatest fame is its huge dome, on which many other mosques are based.
Forty windows below the dome flood the building with light and make the dome seem light as air. But it’s not. The original dome almost crushed the whole building because the supporting walls had too much mortar, not enough brick. They were even cost cutting in those days! The dome has been rebuilt several times and rests on pillars. It has lost its perfect circular shape but anyone going inside will forgive it.
Hagia Sophia is so beautifully decorated, and is indeed so light filled as to be a sight of wonder. You can walk around an upper gallery and gaze closely at the paintings of saints—sometimes in golden mosaics with their benefactors. Don’t go near the edge if you get vertigo. There is also a pillar with a hole to insert your thumb. If it comes out damp you will be cured of any ills. Mine came out dry and I had that head cold for about a month.
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