The Hagia Sophia (or Aya Sofya or Church of the Divine Wisdom) is among the world's greatest architectural achievements. Built by Justinian, the church was completed in 537 AD. Its size and grandeur demonstrates the sophistication of the architects in the 6th century Byzantine capital, and influenced building for centuries after. Unlike many early Christian churches, this church was not named for a saint, but was called Sancta Sophia in Latin, Hagia (or Haghia) Sophia in Greek, Aya Sofya in Turkish, and the Church of the Divine Wisdom in English. The Hagia Sophia was the world's greatest Christian church until the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. The Ottomans converted the church into a mosque, and added minarets and fountains. The Ottomans also plastered over some of the original Christian mosaics of the holy family since the Muslim religion forbids images in their mosques. Aya Sofya was used as a mosque until 1935, when it became a museum. Today many of the Christian mosaics have been uncovered and stand next to the Ottoman modifications added in the 15th century. Pictures of Jesus and Mary are intermingled with the muezzin mahfili and mihrab added by the Muslims. This gives the Hagia Sophia a very distinct look, much different from the Blue Mosque.
When you enter Hagia Sophia, the vastness of the 105-foot dome towering 184 feet overhead is astounding, especially given that the building was constructed 1500 years ago! Through the centuries, earthquakes have damaged the building, and it has been fortified numerous times. Since this was Christendom's largest early church, it was decorated with the finest materials and supposedly housed an array of Christian relics, including the True Cross, Jesus' swaddling clothes, and the table used in the Last Supper. These relics were collected in the Holy Land by the Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, and sent to Constantinople. The walls are covered in a variety of the finest marbles, but the mosaics are the most impressive part of the interior. Originally, all of the interior not faced with marble were covered in gold, green, blue, or red mosaics. These simple geometric designs covered over 200,000 square feet of the interior, and figurative mosaics were added later.
Unfortunately, much of the original church's Byzantine furnishings were either destroyed by the crusading Christians in June 1204 or by the Ottomans in May 1453. Some of the Ottoman decorative pieces were preserved, including two large alabaster urns and four large gold medallions with Arabic script.
After touring Hagia Sophia, we decided to break for lunch at the nearby Four Seasons Hotel before touring the Topkapi Palace.
