Hagia Sophia, Istanbul

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View of the south tympanum, or side wall, of Hagia Sophia. In the 9th or early 10th century, both north and south tympana were decorated with mosaics of 16 prophets and 14 bishops in two registers.

Knowledge of these mosaics is derived from the drawings made by the Fossati brothers, when they removed the plaster coating that covered them since Sinan's time (1573).

The cleaning operations of the Byzantine Institute of America uncovered on the blind arches the full-length mosaic portraits of three bishops: St. John Chrysostom (4th cent.), St. Ignatius of Antioch (2nd cent.) and St. Ignatius the Younger, Patriarch of Constantinople (846-858, 867-877).

Photo Bob Neer.