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Gravimetric examination of Hagia Sophia's subsurface structure

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Abstract

The subsurface structure of Hagia Sophia, one of the oldest sacred monuments in the world built between 532–537 under the reign of Justinian in today's Istanbul, has been investigated by using two relative LaCoste-Romberg gravimeters in order to detect hidden cavities which have also served as earthquake dampers in similar constructions. On the building's ground floor a grid of 100 points with a grid size of about 4.m was measured. The mean gravimetric point error was ± 3.10−8 ms−2. The result of the examination is that cavities were not detected in the inner central part of Hagia Sophia with a larger diameter than 8.m down to a depth of about 20.m, and Hagia Sophia's foundation was found to be a slope of natural rock with a downward inclination to the East that has a small crest symmetrical to the building's East-West axis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Bosphorus University, 80815, Bebek, Istanbul, Turkey

    Jürgen Friedrich

  2. Department of Physical Geodesy, Technical University, Petersenstr. 13, D-64287, Darmstadt, Germany

    Carl Gerstenecker

  3. Department of Geodesy, Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, Bosphorus University, 81220, Cengelköy, Istanbul, Turkey

    Onur Gürkan

Authors
  1. Jürgen Friedrich
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  2. Carl Gerstenecker
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  3. Onur Gürkan
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Friedrich, J., Gerstenecker, C. & Gürkan, O. Gravimetric examination of Hagia Sophia's subsurface structure. Journal of Geodesy 70, 645–651 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00868226

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00868226

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