Hagia Sophia vs. Duomo de Milano

I visited these two magnificent structures within a few days of each other. These are two of the largest cathedrals ever constructed...but other than the fact that they both are or were cathedrals, not a lot in common exists between them. For me, the visit to Hagia Sophia was powerful - it's easy to see and feel the history inside its cavernous halls. HS has survived the ages and multiple changes in ownership and use...today it is no longer a church (as it was for 900 years) or a mosque (as it was for nearly 500 years), but rather stands as a museum of Byzantine art. Il Duomo is the new kid on the block in relative terms...having been completed in 1965, though its construction took 6 centuries. HS, in contrast, was completed in only 6 years, in the year 537. 6 years vs. 6 centuries...if that does not illustrate the difference between yesterday's and today's "Romans" I'm not sure what does.

Duomo is very gothic and heavy on the style side, with its ornate spires and gables. HS, on the other hand, is much simpler, but considerably more majestic in its end result. Both structures have many persons buried in them...but in HS thankfully they don't actually show the people as is done in Duomo. Whereas Duomo has many large paintings hanging on either side of the nave, HS has its famous mosaics, which have been vandalized by Latin invaders, covered up by Muslim conquerors, and finally now somewhat restored. That they have survived at all is something of a miracle.

In Duomo you have a striving for superficial perfection. HS is far from perfect and has no such pretension with its fading red paint on the exterior. Inside, HS shows its age with its uneven floors upstairs, damaged mosaics, visibly deteriorated walls and ceilings, and graffiti written by unknown Viking invaders from the 9th century. For me, visiting Hagia Sophia was a kind of step back in time. I only wish I could have stayed longer within its walls.