The 6th century church SS. Sergius and Bacchus, preserved as the mosque, Küçük Ayasofya

[@ForzaStiinta64]

I am now in Ravenna and I saw San Vitale with it's splendid mosaic of Justinian and Theodora. Lovely coincidence and great episode.

[@smarthistory-art-history]

We have four pages on art in Ravenna: smarthistory.org/san-vitale/

[@ForzaStiinta64]

@@smarthistory-art-history Seen them all. This is one of the reasons I came to Ravenna.

[@ReynaSingh]

Great episode. Fantastic architecture

[@barrymoore4470]

It's such an intimate space compared to Hagia Sophia, elegance contrasted with the great church's majesty. The interior carved details are quite lovely, and presented and discussed with assurance. It's remarkable to remember that these two fine survivors of early Eastern Roman architecture have stood for almost a millennium and a half.

[@brianholihan5497]

I loved exploring its interior. It was light and intimate, with few tourists, so it was also quiet and serene. .

[@TheZestyTea]

Great video! Thank you for your time and dedication.

[@JerjerB]

It's really a wonderful little place... No tourists

[@carlberg7503]

Exciting to discover masterpieces I didn't know existed. Thanks.

[@a-complished4406]

I believe the orientation of the Mirhab looks off, because there are only 6 degrees difference between the original orientation towards Jerusalem, and after it became a mosque, they corrected it slightly to turn to Mecca. Same happened to Haggia Sofia. This is what I learned when I went there. Correct me if I am wrong 😢

[@London_miss234]

Beautiful!

[@Sasha0927]

You guys are helping me survive the last couple of hours of my shift, so thank you for that. 🥴❤ This place is full of surprises. What an amazing backstory I wasn't expecting. I heard the names of Sergius and Bacchus which made me think of Romans, not Christian martyrs. Bonus for the beautiful mosaic accompanying that story. And I don't think I've ever seen capitals quite so lovely as these - I dig the lacey look of them. This was a treat and a solid conclusion to a quick but engaging playlist!

[@tattianasalles3019]

I love byzantine art. ❤

[@portastsic]

Love the videos The way the narrators, seemingly, whisper reminds of the NPR skits on SNL. Doing these recordings in a library?

[@smarthistory-art-history]

Nope, we record on site, in this case in a place of worship (the Mosque in Istanbul) with people in prayer. We try to be respectful.

[@portastsic]

@@smarthistory-art-history ah, thanks for the content!

[@scoon2117]

Humanity did good preserving these.

[@georgefreitas232]

Would that column be classified as Corinthian?great episode thanks for sharing ❤

[@smarthistory-art-history]

Some historians see these capitals as a rejection of the classical orders, including the Corinthian; a result of a search for new visual models for the Christian empire.

[@georgefreitas232]

Thanks a lot for the reply and please do not stop sharing with us…been learning so much from both of you! 🙏🌹

[@stephenparker4083]

Sergius and Bacchus were a same sex couple. After the first was killed the second one prayed to be unified in death with his beloved rather than with Christ. This according to the scholarship of Dr. John Boswell, Director of Scholarly Studies in History at Yale.

[@Pollicina_db]

Makes sense since they were both soldiers and the previous ancient world knew that many men in the military were gay. I went to google his papers but I can’t find anything. Do you maybe have a link?

[@R.E.A.L.I.T.Y]

Sergius & Bachus were lovers , centurions & a married. Their love for each other kept their faith despite their martyrdom. Catholic Church had c.80 male marriage ceremonies. It was moral, admirable & normal. These ceremonies are now hidden in the Vaticans classified archive. FFS

[@kaminobatto]

I love that I get to see the architecture and art of the world through your lens and hear about them from you.

[@miketackabery7521]

So sad to have lost this great church to non Christians. So much of the beauty of it's original purpose stripped away and a foreign purpose laid over it's form. What a loss.

[@edthoreum7625]

History & architecture still available

[@dragonmartijn]

It is a loss, but if you are creative enough, you can build a chapel or church yourself. History isn’t over yet 😄

[@starcapture3040]

Not really because all of them were destroyed with iconoclast edict in the 7 and 8 century by the east romans themselves.

[@random22026]

2:00 The B E Monogram/Initials carved into Hagia Sophia's capitals: who is being paid tribute to here? 🤔

[@smarthistory-art-history]

There are several monograms used in Hagia Sophia, perhaps you mean ΒΑCΙΛΕωΣ shortened to B ω E meaning emperor in this context.

[@random22026]

​@@smarthistory-art-history Possibly...although at the 2:00 mark, the symbol between the two letters, appears to be an ^ and the same symbol, reversed.

[@miltonthomaslowe]

How does this church compare to Charlemagne and his tomb?

[@smarthistory-art-history]

In what way? They are separated by hundreds of years and 1,500 miles.

[@dragonmartijn]

Charlemagne’s Aachen chapel is based on Ravenna. Ravenna looks like Sergius and Bachus. The throne room of the Eastern Emperor is sometimes also seen as a predecessor of Aachen. You can see a reconstruction of that room in Ludwig II’s Neuschwanstein.

[@smarthistory-art-history]

Oh, you mean the Palace Chapel! We just made a video about it and discuss this issue: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5fOf5WOpamEbZYsi=3EloYbdvxdtUkx9i

[@lwaldron9745]

@01:38 Inscription [Ἄλλοι μὲν βα]σιλῆες ἐτιμήσαντο θανόντας ἀνέρας, ὧν ἀνόνητος ἔην πόνος· ἡμέτερος δὲ εὐσεβίην σκηπτοῦχος Ἰουστινιανὸς ἀέξων Σέργιον αἰγλήεντι δόμῳ θεράποντα γεραίρει 5 Χριστοῦ παγγενέταο· τὸν οὐ πυρὸς ἀτμὸς ἀνάπτων, οὐ ξίφος, οὐχ ἑτέρη βασάνων ἐτάραξεν ἀνάγκη, ἀλλὰ θεοῦ τέτληκεν ὑπὲρ Χριστοῖο δαμῆναι αἵματι κερδαίνων δόμον οὐρανόν. ἀλλ᾽ ἐνὶ πᾶσιν κοιρανίην βασιλῆος ἀκοιμήτοιο φυλάξοι 10 καὶ κράτος αὐξήσειε θεοστεφέος Θεοδώρης, ἧς νόος εὐσεβίῃ φαιδρύνεται, ἧς πόνος ἀεὶ ἀκτεάνων θρεπτῆρες ἀφειδέες εἰσὶν ἀγῶνες.

[@arturocostantino623]

Mecca is southwest of Istanbul. But I really like your videos.😊

[@smarthistory-art-history]

Thank you for the kind words. Please have a look, Mecca is SSE of Istanbul.

[@arturocostantino623]

@@smarthistory-art-history I’m in NYC so I was thinking about East of me which is wrong

[@LJ7000]

A real shame what the Muslims did to the original stunning decorations but we can't forget that protestants have done the same to churches all over Europe too.

[@smarthistory-art-history]

The destruction of Contantinope's art and architecture was largely the result of the Fourth Crusade.

[@starcapture3040]

lol the Byzantines themselves were iconoclasts for sometime

[@sivaskangalar]

Thank you for your work! I use your videos frequently in my classes! Question: why are you pronouncing the "g" in Hagia Sofia? The g is silent in Turkish. And, I do notice that all over the world of art and art history the pronunciation varies.

[@miketackabery7521]

Hagia Sophia is from the Greek, not from the Turkish. Therefore the pronunciation isn't from the Turkish (though the narrators use an American English pronunciation for the g rather than a Greek one).

[@smarthistory-art-history]

That is a Brooklyn accent you hear, to be more specific.

[@miketackabery7521]

@@smarthistory-art-history LOL. And I really appreciate your videos. Thank you!

[@angrybirdo]

Hagia Sophia is a Greek name and it means Holy Wisdom. It’s not Turkish

[@oacargil]

Btw, Küçük ayasofya means little hagia sophia