Hagia Sophia's angel uncovered - Aya Sofya meleğinin üstü açıldı
Experts have uncovered ortaya çıkarmak one of the six angel mosaics within the world-famous Hagia Sophia Museum in Istanbul after it had bee hidden saklanmak nfor 160 years behind plaster and a metal mask.
The mosaic, which measures 1.5 meters by 1 meter, was last seen by Swiss architect Gaspare Fossati, who headed yönetmek restoration efforts at the museum between 1847 and 1849, and Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid.
Experts were surprised to see that the mosaic, believed to date from geçmişe dayanmak the 14th century, was so well preserved korumak.
Hagia Sophia, built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian between A.D. 532 and 537, was originally a basilica bazilika before it was converted dönüştürmek into a mosque when Ottoman Turks conquered fethetmek the city in 1453.
During the conversion process, the Ottomans covered the mosaics with plaster instead of removing kaldırmak them. The building served hizmet etmek as a mosque until 1934, when it was turned into dönüşmek a museum.
The uncovered mosaic is located in the pendentive köşelik, an arched kemerli triangular üçgen şeklinde section supporting the building's huge dome kubbe.
After 10 days of work on the area, experts removed several layer katman of plaster and the metal mask to uncover the angel.
The mosaic's true age will be assessed belirlemek after an analysis by the Hagia Sofia Science Board compares it to similar mosaics.
The six-winged figure is thought to depict tanımlama. the seraphim, an angel described in the biblical book of Isaiah.
turkishny.com