What is Hagia Sophia? Shocking facts and what you don't know about Hagia Sophia
Don't forget to subscribe and activate the bell icon so we can continue publishing information. What is Hagia Sophia?
Learn about the history of Hagia Sophia with this video.
Hayat Sophia (also known as Sancta Sapientia), or the Hagia Sophia Mosque (Turkish: Ayasofya Camii) (known in the Ottoman era as the Grand Mosque of Hagia Sophia, Ottoman Turkish: آياصوفی كبیر جامع شريف), and the Byzantine Church of Hagia Sophia,[1] is a historic house of worship located on the European side of Istanbul. It has served as a cathedral for the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, a Roman Catholic cathedral, an Ottoman mosque, and a secular museum. As of July 2020, the site was declared to be reconverted into a mosque by the President of Turkey.[2] Following a ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court of Turkey,[3][4] the Christian cathedral was built in 537 AD, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Justinian I. At that time, it was the largest building in the world and the first to use a fully suspended dome. The building was considered a jewel of Byzantine architecture,[5] and it was said that it "changed the history of architecture."[6] Several writers described it as "occupying a prominent place in the Christian world" and as "greater than all Christian churches."[7] Historians indicate that Hagia Sophia was considered a cultural and architectural symbol and an icon of Byzantine civilization and Orthodox Christian civilization.