Twenty years after Justinian in his pride had exclaimed, "Νενίκηκά σε, Σαλομών," the great dome and the eastern semi-domes fell and destroyed the holy table and the rich apparatus of the bema; but the zeal and energy of Justinian did not experience any diminution. A nephew and namesake of one of the original designers, Ignatius, was employed to restore the work. He gave the dome its present form, making its height twenty-five feet more than that of its predecessor, thus diminishing the lateral thrust. The church remains substantially the same as thus restored in A.D. 561, but needed and received in after years many repairs. In A.D. 896 the tower at the west end was erected by the emperor Michael, and in A.D. 987 a thorough renovation was carried out by Basil the Bulgaricide. The conquest of the city by the Latins in A.D. 1204 led to the entire destruction of the rich interior arrangements, and we read of the repairs effected by Andronicus in 1307 A.D., and, the eastern semi-dome showing signs of giving way, by John Palæologus IV. in 1345. The Mohammedan conquest of course swept away the ornaments of the interior--the ambo, the iconostasis and the holy table. The heads of the crosses were chiselled off, so as to destroy the cruciform shape, and the numerous groups and figures portrayed in mosaic were covered with coats of whitewash. During the restoration of the church in the reign of Abd-ul-Medjid these works of art were once more brought to light by Fossati, and sketches of them made by this architect and by Herr Salzenberg before they were again hidden from sight. The figures of the four seraphim were never covered, and still look down upon the desecrated temple: on the four piers hang huge shields bearing in Arabic characters the names of Aboo-bekr, Omar, Osman and Ali, the four companions of the Prophet, whom the orthodox Soonees reverence as the true khalifs. The floor is covered with rich carpeting. As the Mussulman at prayer turns to the Kebla at Mecca--that is, to the south-east--and as the church was built nearly east and west, the pulpit, the carpet, the long lines of worshippers are now arrayed obliquely to the length of the building.