section is kept open at any given time, because the earth is necessary to support the vast mass of stonework which forms the entire building, and it was for this reason, namely, to prevent the structure from breaking up, that this terrace was formerly banked up. It is found that this lower terrace is decorated with sculptures representing ordinary mundane scenes, the world being the basis on which all the higher religious phenomena rest. In the first gallery (Leemans's second), the bas-reliefs represent a continuous selection of scenes from the historical life of Buddha; in the second there are sculptures of the lesser deities recognized in the Brahmanic worship, such deities having been adopted into the Buddhistic pantheon; in the third the higher deities are represented, where the shrine and not the deity is worshipped; in the fourth there are groups of Buddhas; and in the central dome there is the incomplete statue of the Highest Buddha-Adibuddha. This is unfinished by design, in order to indicate that the highest deity cannot be represented by human hands, having no bodily but only a spiritual existence.

"Om, Amitaya! measure not with words

Th' Immeasurable; nor sink the string of thought
Into the Fathomless. Who asks doth err,

Who answers, errs. Say nought."

Such is the design of this great religious monument of which even the bare ruins, in their melancholy magnificence, inspire the mind of the spectator with mingled feelings of wonder and solemnity.

ST. SOPHIA

WILLIAM J. J. SPRY

WHAT a wondrous history this building possesses!

WHA

Begun in the twentieth year of Constantine's reign (A. D. 325) as the city cathedral, and dedicated to the Eternal Wisdom, it has had from those times such a chequered career that a short narrative may not prove uninteresting.

Its foundations were laid on the present site in the year 325, and in a comparatively short time it was completed and publicly opened for Divine Service. Additions were frequently made to the structure up to the year 404, when, unfortunately, it was destroyed by fire. It laid in ruins for ten years, after which Theodosius II. had it rebuilt; but this building had but a comparatively short existence, for in a great revolt which occurred in the city (January, 532) it was again destroyed by fire. Six years later, during the reign of Justinian, the present building was begun on a grander and more imposing scale, and with infinitely more splendour than either of its predecessors.

Everything that could be obtained to add magnificence to this building was procured; the most talented architect known was engaged to superintend its construction. The walls and arches were built of brick, but the splendour and variety of the marble columns surpassed all that had ever

been brought together before. Amongst them were eight porphyry columns which Aurelius had taken from the Temple of the Sun at Baalbec; eight of green granite taken from the Temple at Ephesus, and others that had been carried off from Trooas Cyzicus, Athens and the Cyclades. In fact, all the temples of the old religion contributed to the glory of the Church of Divine Wisdom; and thus the grand edifice is supported on the columns of Isis and Osiris, on the pillars from the Temple of the Sun and Moon at Heliopolis and Ephesus; from that of Pallas at Athens; from Phoebus at Delos; and from Cybele at Cyzicus. The work of completion went on, and after its dedication it became, during the reign of Justinian, the scene of the greatest and most solemn transactions of state.

Tradition and history unite in pronouncing this building, from the time of its commencement to the date when it was converted into a Mohammedan mosque, to be the most remarkable temple of the Byzantine capital and of the whole Empire that had ever been constructed.

The superstitions and legends connected with its building are varied and numerous.

The plan of the building was said to have been communicated to the Emperor by an Angel in a dream. The Angel, later on, appeared to a young boy who had been left in charge of the workmen's tools during their absence, and directed him to summon the workmen immediately, so as to hasten the completion of the building.