www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall The sound of Hagia Sophia

An interesting article [utne.com] about the acoustics of Hagia Sophia and an attempt to experience the sound of singing there.

Right, there was a Youtube Video about a local Byzantine Deacon that talks about that, too:

Very interesting! Thanks for posting this. Would that Hagia Sophia really could sing again...

If for no other reason than one cannot worship as an Easterner in square block fully carpeted monstrosities many are forced into we need a reclamation of our Eastern Temples. Pray for the restoration of our patrimony in architecture as well as proper liturgies and iconography.

Thanks!

Let us hope that the Capella performs in Byzantine Chant rather than Gregorian. (nothing against western chant, just being authentic.....)

Indeed, Slavonic sounds much better sung than Latin, imo. Trust me, I've chanted and sung in both languages, and I just think Slavonic in Hagia Sophia would just be the icing on the cake.

Would they ever have sung "Slavonic" chant at Hagia Sophia? Back when Constantinople was still Constantinople, that is? It would be amazing to see and hear the Divine Liturgy celebrated at Hagia Sophia just as it would have been done, say, the very first time...or even the very last time, for that matter.

That is an interesting question - I suppose that Russian emissaries were surely present at the Imperial Court in Constantinople at times from the 11th through the 15th centuries. While travel was problematic in that era I have no idea if the primates of self-ruling Churches paid homage to the Patriarch of Constantinople? If so, would a 'polychronos' be chanted as 'mnogaya lit' in honor of a Slavic bishop? I doubt it as we - both as Orthodox and later as Greek Catholics and still for us as Orthodox - it is custom to chant'Eis polla eti Despota' for a hierarch. Perhaps some of our more learned historians of the esoteric and obscure might know the answer to this.

I found a nice video on a Georgian Orthodox Chant being sung in Hagia Sophia, so at least there was something good here. Not sure if Georgian was in Slavonic, or if it was Greek. Not sure, but here it is: