MOSAICS IN HAGIA SOPHIA, DOCUMENTATION AND STUDY ON MATERIAL /TECHNIQUES

Report of survey (Vol.1 Dome mosaic)

Abstract

In the dome of Hagia Sophia, the mosaics of the 6th century' have higher quality both in materials and technique employed than mosaics of the 14th century'. This paper examines the characteristic of mosaics based on the color spectral reflectivity survey, and proposes ideas to verify previous considerations. For example, recent researches assumed that the mosaics of 14^th century have some salvage tesserae from earlier mosaics, however, this assumption has not been verified enough. By the color spectral reflectivity, the possibility of reuse of the earlier mosaic tesserae and application of some new tesserae in 14^th century can be revealed.