Istanbul - Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya)

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Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya) Description

The former church of Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom), in Turkish Ayasofya, from the Turkish Conquest until 1935 Istanbul's principal mosque and now a museum, is the supreme achievement of Byzantine architecture and the city's most celebrated monument. The first church on this site, built by Constantine the Great in 326, was burned down and a later church was destroyed during the Nika Insurrection. It was rebuilt on a larger scale in 532-37, during the reign of Justinian, by Anthemios of Tralleis (Aydin) and Isodoros of Miletus, with the avowed intention of surpassing in splendor all the buildings of antiquity. Large numbers of columns were brought to Constantinople from temples in Asia Minor, the Lebanon, Greece and Italy, and the finest

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Hobbies & Activities category: Islamic site or artifact collection; Christian sites

Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya) Highlights

Turbes

Outside the south side of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul are five türbes (tombs) of Sultans. To the southwest lies the busy Ayasofya Meydani (Hagia Sophia Square), on the site of the old Augusteion

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Address

Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya)
Sultanahmet
Istanbul
Turkey

Hours