Caption: Interior of Santa Sophia
- Caption:
- Interior of Santa Sophia
- Artist:
- Blake, Edith (née Osborne)
- Materials:
- Paper (fiber material), Ink
- Techniques:
- Lithographic Reproduction
- Engraver:
- Photographic process
- Title of Publication:
- Twelve months in Southern Europe
- Publisher:
- Chapman and Hall
- Publication place:
- London
- Publication date:
- 1876
- Note on artwork:
- Santa (Hagia) Sophia when depicted by Blake served as a mosque in Constantinople (modern day Istanbul, Turkey). Once a Byzantine Basilica, following the Ottoman seizure of the city in 1453 it became a mosque and remained so until 1931 when it closed for four years before reopening as a museum in 1935. Blake has carefully recorded the key structural and decorative details of the building including the large medallions inscribed by calligrapher Kazasker Izzet Efendi which carried the names of Allah and the prophet Muhammad; the first four Caliphs of Islam; and the two grandsons of Mohammed are clearly visible.
- References:
- Snoddy (2002) and DIB online
