Mosiacs of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul: The Fossati Restoration and the Work of the Byzantine Institute

Dumbarton Oaks
Natalia B. Teteriatnikov
ISBN: 0884022641
price: $15.00   paperback

Drawing on material housed in the Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Photograph and Fieldwork Archives, this catalog records two periods of work that uncovered the mosaics of Hagia Sophia after having been covered with whitewash and plaster for 400 years. The photographs and drawings record the procedures used and the results of these projects carried out in 1848-49 by the architects Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati and later in 1931­49 by the Byzantine Institute. These records have proved to be important for the study of these major works of Byzantine art and for documenting the efforts exerted in preserving these mosaics and disseminating information about them.