In this episode of pplpod, we explore the Hagia Sophia, one of the most important buildings in world history and a structure that has lived many lives: church, cathedral, mosque, museum, and mosque again. The episode begins with the building’s violent origins, from earlier churches that burned during riots to Emperor Justinian’s decision to rebuild on the same site after the Nika revolt. Instead of retreating from the destruction, Justinian used the new Hagia Sophia as a political and spiritual statement, hiring the mathematicians Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus to create a structure that seemed to trap heaven inside stone. The discussion explains how pendentives allowed a massive dome to rest over a square space, why the dome appeared to float on light, and how the first version collapsed before being rebuilt with a steeper, more sta ...