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The Hagia Sophia

It is considered the greatest work of Byzantine art and an inaccessible symbol of medieval mysticism. When it was first built, it was called Megale Ekklesia, that means the Great Church. After the 5th century, it is dedicated to the Holy Wisdom and called “Hagia Sophia”. Hagia Sophia, which means “Holy Wisdom,” was built for the third time on 27 December 537, during the reign of Emperor Justinian I.

The construction of the structure was directed by the famous scientists of the period, the physicist Isidore of Miletus and the mathematician Anthemius of Tralles. It has been the largest religious structure in the world for eight centuries thanks to its gigantic size, the height and diameter of the dome dominating the middle space. Hagia Sophia, to which many Ottoman structures were added after the conquest, was converted into a museum during the Republican period, and was opened to worship again as a mosque eighty-six years later.