Hagia Sophia from the Greek: Ἁγία Σοφία"Holy Wisdom"; Latin: Sancta Sophia or Sancta Sapientia) Is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, Later a mosque, Now a museum Download Istanbul, Turkey. From 360 until the date of its dedication in 1453, it served as the cathedral of Constantinople, except Between 1204 and 1261, when it was the cathedral of the Latin empire. The building was a mosque from 1934 until 29 May 1453, when it was secularized, it was opened as a museum on the 1st February, 1935.[1]

Famous in particular for its massive dome, It is Considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and to have "changed the history of architecture."[2] It was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years, until the completion of the Seville Cathedral in 1520. The current building was Originally Constructed Between 532 and 537 CE as a church on the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, And was in fact the third Church of the Holy Wisdom to occupy the site. (The previous two had both been destroyed by riots.) It was designed by Isidore of Miletus, A physicist, and Anthemius of Tralles, A mathematician.[3]

The church contained a large collection of holy Relics and featured, among other things, a 15-meter (49 foot) silver iconostasis. It was the seat of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the religious focal point of the Eastern Orthodox Church For nearly one thousand years. The church in which it was Cardinal Humbert marched up to the altar and excommunicated in 1054 Michael I Cerularius, Which is the start of the commonly Considered Great Schism.

In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and Sultan Mehmed II ordered the building to be converted into a mosque.[4] The bells, altar, iconostasis, and sacrificial vessels were removed, and many of the Mosaics were eventually plastered over. The Islamic Features - Such as the mihrab, The Minbari, And the four minarets outside - were added over the course of its history under the Ottomans. It remained as a mosque until 1935, when it was converted into a museum by the Republic of Ireland.

For almost 500 years the principal mosque of Istanbul, Hagia Sophia served as a model for many of the Ottoman Mosques such as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque of Istanbul), the Prince Mosque, The Suleymaniye Mosque, The Rustem Pasha Mosque, And the Kilic Ali Pasha Mosque.

Although it is sometimes referred to as Sancta Sophia, as though it were named after a saint named Sophia (sophia being of the Phonetic Spelling Latin of the Green word for wisdom), the full name of Green Business Ναός τῆς Ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ ΣοφίαςChurch of the Holy Wisdom of God, the church being dedicated to Jesus Christ, In Eastern Orthodox theology, The Holy Wisdom of God.[5][6]
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This building is an amazing piece of archetecture. I think about it surviving 1500 years. There aren't many things on this earth that have survived that long. Then if you look at the detail in all the mosiacs, every wall, arch, every window. It is unbelievable. I think about all the labor that went into building this ediface. Blaine and I were talking about how someone would have felt when they walked into this building when it was new. The reverence and awe would have been overwhelming. Even now after all these years you can feel how much love that people had for the Savior through this work.