Trajan’s Basilica and Hagia Sophia
The original functions of these 2 places were almost similar, a meeting place for the common folk as well as the high society folk. But the difference between the 2 is that Hagia Sophia was a religious meeting place, a grand cathedral at the time, the largest in the known world! And Trajan’s Basilica was more of a meeting place, a forum of markets and social networking, as well as a spot to hear news and updates on society.
Trajan’s Basilica, itself, had architecture that we see almost everywhere; it contains an apse, aisles for walking, a nave and clerestories. A grand building with an apse on each side, each containing a grand spectacle, like a statue. Columns separating into space for aisles and a grand nave to gather in. the clerestories up above allowed light inside, since electricity was not even a thought at the time.
The Hagia Sophia was a bit different, in a sense that the religions of the byzantine era were not like the more Christian/catholic religions and cathedrals we are more common with. However, it is a grand spectacle in itself as it was the largest cathedral of its time! It is based on the Greek cross, in which all four arms are of equal length, and a nave in center located right below the grand dome. The clerestories above the central nave allow the light to come in and shine upon the gold mosaics and help give a sense of the beauty of this place. And the dome is built on top of a pendentive and has windows carved into it to allow more light inside.
Both buildings are perfectly proportionate and balanced which I always find amazing for architecture to be built in such a fashion way back in the day. The scale of each building is HUGE! Everything compliments the other when looking at one section of the building to the next. In my opinion, each building, layout and final creation, succeed with the function in which it was built. They built them with the sheer thought of having it be what it was, the...