Hagia Sophia – Church of Divine Wisdom
The first stone of the third Hagia Sophia was laid on 23 February, just forty-one days after the Theodosian Church had been pillaged and destroyed.
The architects of the new church, which is connected with the name of the emperor Justinian (r.527-565), were Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus. The first of these had already designed the charming SS. Sergius and Bacchus, and more or less reused the map of that church, although on a much larger scale, and with a different type of dome. The church was dedicated after less than six years, on 26 December 537. When Justinian entered the new Church of the Divine Wisdom, he modestly noted that he had surpassed King Solomon. This church is described in great detail by Procopius, at the beginning of his book on the Buildings of Justinian.