Iconoclasm Period in Byzantine History and the Effect of Iconoclasm on Hagia Sophia

Abstract

The Iconoclasm Period, which emerged in two different ways between the years (726-843), is the period of turmoil in which the Byzantine and Byzantine emperors also had problems arising from the social, political, economic and external powers that they experienced in the context of the "administration and church" relationship. With the separation of Byzantine and Western churches, icon art and culture started to be important in the Orthodox world. As a result, the Iconoclasm Period was a turning point for Byzantine churches. Hagia Sophia, which is one of the most important monuments of the history of world architecture that has survived to the present day; In terms of its architecture, magnificence, size and functionality, it constitutes an important place for the art world and adds value to the city where it is religious and symbolic. The building, which was built as a church, then converted into a mosque and later organized as a museum; it continues to maintain its symbolic importance today. After the removal of all the icons and sculptures from Hagia Sophia in 726, all the mosaics containing the depictions of the human image that can survive are from the post-Iconoclasm Period. However, it is understood that some of the mosaics that do not contain a human image are the first mosaics made in the 6th century.

In this period, it was aimed to investigate the change of some mosaics and architectural structures made in the cultural memory by changing some of the mosaics and the iconoclasm process in the example of Hagia Sophia.