ayasofya / hagia sofia

This astonishing Byzantine building blows my mind. It is genuinely one of the wonders of the world.

[from wikipedia: Hagia Sophia (Church of Holy Wisdom), now known as the Ayasofya Museum, is a former Eastern Orthodox church converted to a mosque, now converted into a museum, in the Turkish city of Istanbul. It is universally acknowledged as one of the greatest buildings of the world and sometimes considered the Eighth Wonder of the World. Its loss to the Ottomans at the fall of Constantinople is considered one of the great tragedies of Christendom by the Greek Orthodox faith.]

Following the destruction of the two previous churches on the site, the building that you see now was rebuilt under the personal supervision of emperor Justinian I and rededicated on December 27, 537ad. That makes it 1500 years old!

It was the largest cathedral ever built for over 1,000 years and today is still the fourth largest cathedral in the world.

13 photos | 623 views

items are from between 31 Mar 2006 & 01 Apr 2006.