The 1,500-year-old history of Hagia Sophia, an iconic world cultural heritage site and the most spectacular Orthodox cathedral in eastern Christendom for a millennium, is explored in a new 45-minute screening on show at the Hellenic Cosmos Culture Centre's dome-shaped Virtual Reality Theatre, or 'Tholos', in Athens.
The interactive presentation charts the cathedral's history from the 6th century, in January 532, when Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian commissioned the temple from the architects Anthemios and Isidorus, and weaves in elements of subsequent Byzantine history and culture.
Among others, it explores the challenges faced by the architects in carrying out their ground-breaking and ambitious construction, the problems they had to overcome and also explores the intricate decorations of the interior.
Details on the days and hours of screenings are available at the website www.hellenic-cosmos.gr
Source: ANA-MPA [January 25, 2016]