During our "Dark Ages"

I keep reminding myself that the sixth century is the gap in our own history - we have no monumental or written records between the departure of the Romans in the middle of the fifth century and the emergence of the first evidence of the earliest "English" culture in the middle of the seventh century.  Meanwhile, in the middle of exactly this period, here the Emperor Justinian was building what was then the largest church in the world and what is still one of the largest (albeit no longer used as a church) at the Hagia Sophia (pictured a few days ago) and other notable churches such as the next door Hagia Eirene (pictured above).