Side Aisles

  In its layout, Hagia Sophia was designed with two narthexes on the west side, a naos with aisles on the south and north sides, and a semicircular apse facing east. The aisles were full of relics and dozens of huge icons, as well as many altars and stands where pilgrims left candles. Galleries above the aisles and the inner narthex were originally accessible by four towers with spiraling ramps, located at the four corners of the church. Today, only those in the northwest and northeast corners are used. Such towers with ramps are a traditional feature of Constantinopolitan churches, first attested in the mid-5th century.

  Side aisles and galleries are rarely described in sources, and where they do appear, the information is extremely sparse. Around 550–560, Prokopios of Caesarea mentions that Hagia Sophia had two completely identical side aisles on the lower floor and galleries with colonnades above them.[1] In his "Description of the Church of Hagia Sophia" (around 563), Paul the Silentiary also mentions that each of the side aisles was crowned with a gallery on the north and south, similar to the aisles on the lower floor[2], but notes that the western gallery "did not resemble the other two [naves, i.e., galleries]".[3]

  According to Evagrios Scholastikos (c. 536 – after 594), the colonnades of the side aisles supported rows of columns on identical galleries, from which those wishing to observe could watch the rituals taking place in the naos. It was from here that the Empress watched the offering of the Holy Mysteries.[4]

  In non-Byzantine descriptions of Hagia Sophia, the side aisles are mentioned in passing. The story by Anthony of Novgorod from 1200 about relics and holy remains in Hagia Sophia reveals his journey through them, although he does not name them.[5] The attitude toward the side aisles might be due to their low luminosity, with lighter and darker spaces. Another reason may be the feeling of street when a visitor was walking through the aisles. He can exit through the western door of the church or cross them and then leave through the eastern one. Once visitor is inside them, he can exit through the western door of the church or cross them and then leave through the eastern one. Even the fact that the famous column of St. Gregory and the table with relics from Christ’s Passion (although only during Holy Week) are located there does not change the attitude toward them. Thus the Cyrillic graffito inscription from the first half of the 15th century, which mentions the relics of Christ’s Passion, is not incised in the northern aisle, but above it, in the northern gallery.[6]

[1] Procopii Caesariensis: De aedificiis, in: Procopii Caesariensis Opera omnia, Leipzig  1906: I. 1, 14. 55-58: "There are two colonnades (stoai), one on each side, not separated from the church by any structural element, but actually adding to the measure of its width and extending to its whole length, while their height is less than that of the building... One of these colonnades is assigned to men for their devotions, while the other is used by women for the same purpose. However, there is no difference or any distinction between the two, but their very equality and similarity contribute to the beauty and adornment of the church".

[2] R. Mainstone, Hagia Sophia. Architecture, Structure and, Liturgy of Justinian’s Great Church, London, 1988: 37.

[3] Paul Silentiarii, Descriptio magnae Ecclesiae et Ambonis et Joannis Gazaei Descriptio tabulae mundi, rec. Fr. Graefe, Lipsiae 1822: 34. 170-173: "And if someone goes upstairs, he will find that the women's side aisles [galleries] on each side are similar to those below, but the one [i.e., the gallery] above the narthex, to the west, is unlike the other two [i.e., galleries]".

[4] The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius with the Scholia, (eds.) J. Bidez & L. Parmentier, London, 1898, 180.

[5] Kniga Palomnik. Skazanie mest svjatyh vo Caregrade Antonija, arhiepiskopa Novgorodskogo, v 1200 g. izd. Hr. M. Loparev, v: Pravoslavnyj palestinskij sbornik, Sankt-Peterburg 17/3 (51) (1899) 4-7, 12; N. Markov, Kogato vsički pǎtišta vodeha kǎm Konstantinopol, V. Tǎrnovo, 2012, 193-194.

[6] For this see T. Томоv, Nepoznatijat hram “Sv. Sofia”. Čast I. Nadpisi-grafiti na kirilica i glagolica, (vtoro, preraboteno i dopǎlneno izdanie), Sofia, 2019, 134-142.