Hagia Sophia,Istanbul,Turkey.

Hagia Sophia 

Hagia Sophia was a Christian Cathedral,after the conquest of Istanbul it became an Ottoman imperial mosque and today it is a museum people come from all over the world to visit Hagia Sophia.It was built in 537 A.D,during the reign of "JUSTINIAN".It was the largest building and an engineering marvel of that time.It is considered the epitome of "BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE",and it is said to have "changed the history of architecture".

DOME

It is famous for its large dome. 

 

NAMES

1. Hagia Sophia means that The Church of Holy Wisdom.

2. In Turkish it is known as AyaSophia.

3. In Latin it is known as Sancta Sophia.

Construction

The designer of Hagia Sophia was "Isidore of Miletus aned Anthemius of Tralles".The materials used in construction of Hagia Sophia were Ashlar,Brick.

It is of masonry construction.

The structure has brick and mortar joints that are 1.5 times the width of the bricks. The mortar joints are composed of a combination of sand and minute ceramic pieces distributed evenly throughout the mortar joints. This combination of sand and ceramic pieces could be considered the contemporaneous equivalent of modern concrete.

AS CHURCH/MOSQUE/MUSEUM

From 537 to 1453 it served as a Eastern Orthodox cathedral.And as the seat of  ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople,except between 1204 and 1261,when it was converted by the Forth Crusaders to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Empire.

The Hagia Sophia was converted into Ottoman Imperial mosque from 29thMay 1453 until 1931.After 1931 it was sacularized and opened as museum and from 14 February 1935 until today it is a museum.

It remained world's largest Cathedral for almost a thousand years.