Simulating the Hippodrome: The Performance of Power in Kiev’s St. Sophia

The mosaic of the standing Virgin in an orant pose, which decorates the semi-dome in the apse of the Church of St. Sophia in Kiev, seems to derive directly from an image of the same individual represented in the now-destroyed Church of the Blachernai in Constantinople. The latter figure was revered as the protector of the Byzantine capital. The patron of the Kievan church, the Rus’ Prince Iaroslav “the Wise” (d. 1054), sought to associate himself and his building with Constantinople, the “New Jerusalem”, thereby enhancing his prestige as a ruler. The mosaic of the Virgin in St. Sophia is one element of an artistic program in that building symbolizing imperial power and including a fresco depicting the Hippodrome in Constantinople