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Hagia Sophia (lit. 'Holy Wisdom'; Turkish: Ayasofya; Greek: Ἁγία Σοφία, romanized: Hagía Sofía; Latin: Sancta Sapientia), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (Turkish: Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and former church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey.
- What Is The Hagia Sophia?
- Hagia Sophia History
- The Hagia Sophia’s Design
- Hagia Sophia’s Tumultuous History
- Renovations to The Hagia Sophia
- Hagia Sofia Today
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The Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya in Turkish) was originally built as a basilica for the Greek Orthodox Christian Church. However, its function has changed several times in the centuries since. Byzantine Emperor Constantius commissioned construction of the first Hagia Sophia in 360 A.D. At the time of the first church’s construction, Istanbul was known as...
Unable to repair the damage caused by the fire, Justinian ordered the demolition of the Hagia Sophia in 532. He commissioned renowned architects Isidoros (Milet) and Anthemios (Tralles) to build a new basilica. The third Hagia Sophia was completed in 537, and it remains standing today. The first religious services in the “new” Hagia Sophia were hel...
From its opening, the third and final Hagia Sophia was indeed a remarkable structure. It combined the traditional design elements of an Orthodox basilica with a large, domed roof, and a semi-domed altar with two narthex (or “porches”). The dome’s supporting arches were covered with mosaics of six-winged angels called hexapterygon. In an effort to c...
As Greek Orthodox was the official religion of the Byzantines, the Hagia Sophia was considered the central church of the faith, and it thus became the place where new emperors were crowned. These ceremonies took place in the nave, where there is an Omphalion (navel of the earth), a large circular marble section of colorful stones in an intertwining...
As Islamwas the central religion of the Ottomans, the Hagia Sophia was renovated into a mosque. As part of the conversion, the Ottomans covered many of the original Orthodox-themed mosaics with Islamic calligraphy designed by Kazasker Mustafa İzzet. The panels or medallions, which were hung on the columns in the nave, feature the names of Allah, th...
The Hagia Sophia’s role in politics and religion remains a contentious and important one, even today—some 100 years after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. From 1935—nine years after the Republic of Turkey was established by Ataturk—to 2020, the legendary structure was operated as a museum by the national government. Beginning in 2013, some Islamic r...
History. Hagia Sophia Museum. Allen, William. “Hagia Sophia, Istanbul.” Khan Academy. Matthews, Owen (2015). “Islamists and Secularists Battle Over Turkey’s Hagia Sophia Museum.” Newsweek. Hagia Sophia. Ancient History Encyclopedia.
The Hagia Sophia has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985 as a section called the Historic Areas of İstanbul, which includes İstanbul’s other major historic buildings and monuments. Today it is a landmark of İstanbul and one of the most visited sights in Türkiye.
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Jun 18, 2024 · Hagia Sophia, place of worship built at Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) in the 6th century CE under the direction of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. It is considered to be the most important Byzantine structure in the world and one of the world’s great monuments.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Nov 19, 2015 · Hagia Sophia ( Greek Ἁγία Σοφία, for 'Holy Wisdom') was designed to be the major basilica of the Byzantine Empire and held the record for the largest dome in the world until the Duomo was built in Florence in the 15th century.
- Thomas Cohen
Jun 18, 2024 · Hagia Sophia - Byzantine, Istanbul, Monument: The Hagia Sophia combines a longitudinal basilica and a centralized building in a wholly original manner, with a huge 32-metre (105-foot) main dome supported on pendentives and two semidomes, one on either side of the longitudinal axis.
The Hagia Sophia History and Experience Museum, located in the Defter-i Hakani Nezareti building (The General Directorate of Land Registry and Cadastre), exhibits 1700 years of history about the Hagia Sophia.
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