Gaspard FOSSATI, Aya Sofia, Constantinople, as - Lot 54

Gaspard FOSSATI, Aya Sofia, Constantinople, as Recently Restored by Order of H.M. The Sultan Abdul Medjid London, 1852. First edition, chromolithographed title (attributed to Owen Jones), 3-folio introduction, and 21 plates lithographed after Fossati's drawings by Louis Haghe. Views of the interior and exterior of the before its restoration. Hardback and brown cloth portfolio with gilt-stamped title on black leather, spine also in leather. Album incomplete (missing plates: 15, 17 to 22). 55.5 x 45.2 cm. Gaspare Fossati (1809-1883) was a Swiss architect. In 1833, he was appointed official architect to the imperial court in St. Petersburg. In 1845, he became court architect to Sultan Abdülmedjid I. Between 1847 and 1849, the Sultan commissioned him to restore Sainte-Sophie.