The Hagia Sophia, Great Mosque at Cordoba, and the Sainte-Chapelle all have at least one thing in common, they are churches, but they also have many differences.
The Hagia Sophia began as a Greek orthodox Christian patriarchal basilica when construction was completed in 537 AD in Istanbul, Turkey. It was the epitome of byzantine architecture. The monstrous build only took a mere five years to complete which was an amazing feat considering it was the world's largest cathedral until 1520 when the Seville Cathedral was completed. It features a massive central dome covering the nave with a height of 182 feet 5 inches from the floor to the top. The vast interior had a very complex structure in which the dome is carried on four spherical triangular pendentives. These were later replaced by buttresses to further the support of the dome. The acoustics of the Hagia Sophia really affects how people experience this massive structure. The sound inside can be described as “wet” and the echoes can last for up to ten seconds. A comparison to the Hagia Sophia is Suleymaniye Mosque also in Istanbul but it was build almost a thousand years after Hagia Sophia. Suleymaniye was completed in 1557 with seven years of work put into it. Both the Hagia Sophia and the Suleymaniye Mosque both feature these minarets which are the very tall and slender towers outside. This is a very common feature for mosques. Both of the structures are very similar, almost in a sense identical. They both feature the large central dome but the dome in the Suleymaniye Mosque is not quite as tall coming in at 85 feet. The Suleymaniye Mosque is basically a smaller version of the Hagia Sophia.
The Great Mosque at Cordoba started construction in 784 and was completed in 987 in Cordoba, Spain. It was supposedly built on the site of the Catholic Basilica of Saint Vincent of Lérins. The Great Mosque at Cordoba’s architectural style was renaissance which consisted of a great deal of double arches, the lower being a horseshoe arch and the top being a semi-circular arch. The alternating red and white voussoirs of the arches were inspired by those in the Dome of the Rock. The floor plan of the mosque very much resembles those of the mosques at the beginning of Islam with a rectangular prayer hall with the aisles arranged perpendicular to the qibla, the direction in which muslims pray. Then in 1236, Cordoba was conquered and the Great Mosque was converted into a Catholic Cathedral. A very significant feature that was added was a Renaissance cathedral nave in the middle. A comparison to the Great Mosque of Cordoba is Notre-Dame-du-Chartres. Both buildings are examples of medieval architecture. Both artistic styles trace back to Rome and even though they are not the same religion, Christianity and Islam, they are a connected religion. Therefore, the two feature many of the same architectural stylings that were popular in the medieval times.
The Sainte-Chapelle was built from 1242 to 1248 in the heart of Paris, France. It was built as a place to keep Louis IX's collections of Christ, which included the Crown of Thorns. The architectural style of the Sainte-Chapelle is gothic. It has one of the most broad 13th-century stained glass collection anywhere in the world. With the interior being mainly covered in stained glass, the rest of the walls were immensely covered with other colors and decorations. The stained glass consisted of fifteen huge windows filling the nave and the apse with a large rose window. Rib vaulting also was very consistent with the gothic style and widely used in this structure. A structure that is very similar in style is the church Bayeux, Cathedrale Notre Dame. Some things that are similar are the pointed arches and the ribbed vaulting of the ceiling. This church also features a large wall of stained glass. Many gothic churches focus on having the same style and look to them.
With all of these comparisons, whether it be different architectural style or religions practiced, they all take part in changing the way we interact with history and change the history of architecture itself.