From: Rabbi Moshe Sofer
To: Rabbi Moshe Perles
A community rebuilding its synagogue sought to relocate the bimah from the center to the front near the Aron Kodesh for aesthetic reasons. The Chasam Sofer emphatically forbids the change, marshaling five arguments—including the Alexandrian synagogue precedent, the bimah's symbolic parallel to the inner altar, and the principle that established sacred positions must not be altered.
Source: Shu"t Chasam Sofer OC §28