This early works was originally published in 1894. PREFACE: Sancta Sophia is the most interesting building on the worlds surface. Like Karnak in Egypt, or the Athenian Parthenon, it is one of the four great pinnacles of architecture, but unlike them this is no ruin, nor does it belong to a past world of constructive ideas although it precedes by seven hundred years the forth culmination of the building arts in Chartres, Amiens, or Bourges, and thus must ever stand as the supreme monument of the Christian cycle. Far from being a ruin, the church is one of the best preserved of so ancient monuments, and in regard to its treatment by the Turks we can only be grateful that S. Sophia has not been situated in the more learned cities of Europe..... This is a fascinating and comprehensive look at the subject and will appeal greatly to any Architect or Historian. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900's and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expens