Hagia Sophia
The Byzantine church, later mosque, on Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul, Turkey.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither Here Nor There | Bill Bryson | setting | A cool, near-empty refuge from the noise of the Istanbul streets. |
| The Race to Save Hagia Sophia | The B1M | subject | The building vanishes under scaffolding for a seismic restoration. |
Neither Here Nor There — Bill Bryson (1991)
Source: Readwise highlight
I strolled into that great byzantine pile of stone, the Ayasofiya.
- Role: setting
- In the book: Chapter 22. After a climb to Sultanahmet Square, peeling postcard sellers from his sleeve, he finds it “nearly as airy and awesome as St. Peter’s”. The relief of cool shadow away from “the endless madness of the Istanbul streets” endears it to him forever, and he wanders for an hour, “almost the only person there”. He then looks into the crowded Blue Mosque across the square.
- Why it matters: One of the few unqualified pleasures of the last chapter, and it echoes his reaction to St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
The Race to Save Hagia Sophia — The B1M (2026)
Source: Readwise highlight
But go and stand outside it today and you might wonder what all the fuss is about because it’s virtually disappeared underneath a mountain of scaffolding.
- Role: subject
- In the video: Finished in 537 AD and the main cathedral of Constantinople for over nine centuries, then a mosque, a museum and a mosque again, the building is now wrapped in scaffolding for seismic strengthening and restoration. Restorers open up the dome and replace its lead coverings, bring trucks and cranes inside for the first time, and find a tunnel network about 1,600 years old under the western garden and northern facade.
- Why it matters: The building is the whole subject. Read beside Bryson’s empty, cool interior, it’s the same space seen as a fragile engineering problem.