Justinian Dedicates Hagia Sophia
“Constantinople, December 27, 537. The emperor stands beneath the great new dome as it is unveiled. Foreground shows Justinian and Theodora in jeweled vestments before the patriarch with a censer; midground reveals mosaicists still finishing the apse and clergy chanting; sunlight pours through forty windows ringing the dome, bathing porphyry columns in gold.”
