I saw a documentary recently where engineers built a scale model of the central structure in the Hagia Sophia and tested it on an earthquake simulation table. Apparently the wide bands of mortar compared to most modern brick work combine with the old arches and new domes to make it almost impervious to major damage from quakes now. The test had to inflict the equivalent of several 9.0 earthquakes in a row to make the model fail.
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Wow, I wonder whether they had concept of earthquake proofing buildings back then (probably not) but it would make sense that the structure has stood so well through history, including surviving major earthquakes through the centuries. Whether or not it was intended is another question! .. does some research :D
I assume the people of the time had some idea of what survived and what did not through centuries of trial and error.