Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-19

February 800 A. D.-that is, 1.oJO years
ago. In the year 44 it was burned to the
ground; was rebuilt and rededicated In
AS; burned again in 532, A. D.. and the
present building was begun the same year
on the foundations of the old one. The
corner stone was laid by the Roman en-
peror Justinian the 23d of February, A
D. 522, only forty days after the nre, ana
the building was completed In hVe years
and ten months
A hundred architects superintendent the
construction, and under them five thou
sand masons wcgked on the right side and
five thousand on the left side, accord1g
to a plan laid down by an angel who ap-
peared to the Emperor Justinian In a
dream The emperor himself advanced
the work by his continual presence
dressed in a suit of coarse linen similar to
those worn by the masons. When the
building was partly completed. according
to tradition. his money gave out, and In
answer to his prayers the same anger ap-
peared again leading caravan or nfty
mules. laden with 5000 pounds or pure
dumped in the center of the unfinished
structure and vanished instantly. Thus
the plan and funds for the construction
of what was intended to be the finest tenn
ple of Christian worship that human
hands could raise were both miraculous.
Great Variety Of Marbles.
Materials were sent from every part of
the world and probably no other building
contains so large a variety of marbles
and semi-precious stones. Much of 1T
came from the ruins of heather temples
in Rome, Greece, Egypt and Asia Minor.
Several of the columns are from the tenn
ples of Isis and Osaris, in Egypt from
the Phoencian temples of Baalbec, from
the temples of the Sun and Moon. at He
liopolis the Temple of Diana at E.phesus.
the Temple of Pallas at Athens, the Tenn
pie of Apollo at Delphos and from other
celebrated architectural monuments.
St. Sophia is almost an exact square,
extending 30 feet north and south ana
80 feet east and west. with dome ris-
ing over the center to height or III
feet, being almost a hemisphere, 1o' rect
across by 4S feet In height. The dome OF
wider; that of ST. Peters is eleven feet
wider and that of st. Paurs at London
is one foot wider.
When the edifice was finished the EN-
peror Justinian fell upon his knees De-
fore the altar and exclaimed:
Solomon, have surpassed thee! Glory
to God. who hath counted me worthy 10
complete such a work in His honor!
1t will take more space than l have 10
snare to describe St. Sophia in detail.
hut there is no more interesting building
| on earth. and. although 1t possesses Ut
tie architectural beauty, it Is quite as
impressive as st. Peters or the Catheorai
at Milan.
1t was transformed into Mohamme-
dan mosque upon the capture or Con-
stantinople and the overthrow of the BY
zantine empire by Muhammad III. the
conqueror," May %, 1853. and the priests
will show you on one Of the columns In
the southeast which is part of the mosque
a mark resembling the imprint or noooy
hand, which is said TO have been left py
Muhammad III as his horse stood upon
the dead bodies of the Christians who mad
died in defending their house of GOD. rms
mark Is about fifteen feet from the floor.
so that there must have been several
tiers of corpses under the feet OF the
horse
Handed Down in Tradition.
Hidden behind mosaic picture in the
south gallery is closed door leading
into a small chapel which formerly COM
municated in Christian times with the
baptistry. According to tradition at the
time of the attack Christian priest fled
through that door with the holy sacra-
ment, when interrupted at mass by the
Turkish invasion, and it is believed by
orthodox Greeks and Roman Catholics
and the Moslems that the passage was
closed and sealed by miracle for his pro-
lection. The Catholics believe, the wise
men of the Greek church will tell you
with confidence, that some day when a
Greek emperor will once more reign ar