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Hagia Sophia, Trebizond
Hagia Sophia, the main church of a large compound, was constructed between 1238 and 1263 by the emperor Manuel I. The church was built on a platform which contained a great number of deep niches used for burial. Although the architectural form, a four-column nave with dome, is regular, the plan was supplemented by the addition of three porches on the north, south, and west. Such additions are related to architectural forms of nearby Georgia and Armenia. Carved reliefs that decorate the external facades of these porches are also reminiscent of the distinctive architectural decoration of the Caucasus. The reliefs represent scenes that are uncommon in Byzantine art, such as the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise. The internal decoration of the church, however, corresponds to Constantinopolitan artistic trends of the thirteenth century.