Which landmark was designed by Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles?

• A. Hagia Sophia
• B. Basilica of Constantine
• C. Dagobert's Throne
• D. San Vitale

Answer: (A)

Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles were the two court architects chosen by Emperor Justinian I to realize a new church in Constantinople, completed in the 530s. The landmark they designed is Hagia Sophia, a monumental space whose interior drama comes from a colossal central dome set over a rectangular base and supported by four massive piers with additional semi-domes. Their solution used pendentives to transfer the weight of the dome to the supporting supports, while a ring of windows around the dome makes the roof seem to float and flood the interior with light. This combination of a vast, centralized dome with a long nave created a revolutionary interior moment in Byzantine architecture and influenced future sacred buildings across the Byzantine world and beyond. The other options point to different sites or objects (for example, San Vitale is in Ravenna and not by these two architects; the Basilica of Constantine refers to another imperial church; Dagobert's Throne is a symbolic item rather than a church), so Hagia Sophia stands out as the landmark those two designers produced.