Download: Mosaics of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul - Dumbarton Oaks

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Central nave in the morning, looking east
All the architectural elements of the central nave focus on the unified space
that was lit by windows in the dome, exedras, and tympana. The historian
Procopius wrote, “You might say that the [interior] space is not illuminated
by the sun from the outside, but that the radiance is generated within, so
great an abundance of light bathes this shrine all round” (De aedificiis I.i.23ff,
tr. Mango, Art of the Byzantine Empire, 74). (photo: Byzantine Institute)
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Preservation through Imaging
Photographs and Films. The photographer Pierre Iskender from Foto Sabah
in Istanbul worked many years for the Byzantine Institute. He produced excellent
photographs of the mosaics of Hagia Sophia before and after the institute’s work,
including the Fossati restorations, and recorded the conservation process.
Whittemore was particularly interested in the effects of light in the interior of
Hagia Sophia, and together with Alexander Végléry documented patterns of
sunlight in the building. 55 A series of photographs, made at 8:30, 10:30, and 11:00
in the morning, illustrate varied patterns of light rays coming through the windows
(Figs. 66, 67). An album of these photographs entitled “Light” was prepared and is
housed at Dumbarton Oaks, along with Iskender’s negatives. 56
Sixteen films, made in the 1930s and 1940s in both color and in black and
white, show the process of the work by the Byzantine Institute staff in different
sections of the building. Most of the films were produced by Pierre Iskender with
the assistance of R. Gregory. A November 1937 color film shows the institute staff
with Thomas Whittemore at work on the soffit of the bema arch. A diary notes
that thirty feet of film was shot to document the work on the archangel. 57 A film of
the work on the Constantine IX and Zoe panel was also made in November and is
now a part of the archives at Dumbarton Oaks.
Tracings and Paintings. Along with the conservation of the mosaics, the
Byzantine Institute organized the production of tracings, painted copies, and handpainted
casts of them. Institutions as well as private benefactors financed the
conservation effort, and the copies of the mosaics were produced so that benefactors
could purchase them. According to the records of the Metropolitan Museum
55 Dumbarton Oaks, Byzantine Photograph and Fieldwork Archives, T. Whittemore, “Notes on
Light in Haghia Sophia, Istanbul,” 26 January1945; T. Whittemore and A. Végléry, “Preliminary
Materials for Report, Lighting in Hagia Sophia,” 1949-50.
56 The “Light” shots are nos. 14-15, 18-19, 81-82, 91-98, 187, dated 1936-37.
57 Dumbarton Oaks, Byzantine Photograph and Fieldwork Archives, “Moving Pictures in
Colour,” 1940, notebook 28.