December 24, AD 562

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia is rededicated after reconstruction of its dome

The rebuilding did not patch the dome: workers dismantled what was left of the vault and raised its replacement by roughly six metres.

Christmas Eve 562, not 563

The reconstructed Hagia Sophia was consecrated again on 24 December 562, with Eutychius as patriarch. The festivities carried into the new year, which is one reason older accounts attach the event to 563.

The church was returning after a major reconstruction. Earthquake damage culminated in the partial collapse of its dome and eastern structural system on 7 May 558.

Part of the ruined vaulting reportedly stayed hanging in mid-air while the rest crashed onto the church floor.

A higher dome, not a patch

Justinian ordered the damaged vaulting removed and rebuilt under Isidore the Younger. The replacement dome was made higher than the 537 dome, and the arches and pendentives beneath it were modified.

Sixth-century sources differ over whether it rose twenty or thirty feet; on the twenty-foot reading that is about 6.24 metres in Byzantine units.

The rebuild gave the church substantially the sixth-century structural form that survives.

A 1,029-line guided tour

Early in 563, while the celebrations continued, the court poet Paul the Silentiary recited an elaborate description of the restored church, addressing Justinian and the patriarch.

The poem runs 1,029 lines and preserves detail of marble, silver, light and liturgical space. Its exact performance day is debated — 6 January has been proposed, but is not certain.

The figure of 20,000 pounds of gold attached to this entry is not substantiated by the scholarly sources consulted for it.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes Date corrected

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

Date corrected. The research places this at 0562-12-24.

What the sources leave uncertain

The best-supported reconsecration date is 24 December 562. Some older accounts place it in 563 because the festivities crossed into the new year or because of differing chronological conventions.
Paul's poem was performed early in 563, but its exact day is debated; 6 January has been proposed but is not certain.
Sixth-century sources differ over whether the replacement dome was twenty or thirty feet higher, and Byzantine-foot units require conversion.
The listed event has no defensible moment when Hagia Sophia suddenly 'became' the center of Eastern Orthodoxy in 563.