Search results
Hagia Sophia ( lit. ' Holy Wisdom '; Turkish: Ayasofya; Greek: Ἁγία Σοφία, romanized :Hagía Sofía; Latin: Sancta Sapientia ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (Turkish: Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi ), [3] is a mosque, a former church, and a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey.
- 82 m (269 ft)
- Overview
- History
Much of the Hagia Sophia’s edifice evident today was completed in the 6th century (primarily from 532–537), during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. The original church to occupy the site (called the Megale Ekklesia) was commissioned by Emperor Constantine I in 325, razed during a riot in 404, later rebuilt, and destroyed once again in 532 before Justinian commissioned the building that exists today. Since then, mosaics were added throughout the Byzantine period, structural modifications were made in both the Byzantine and Ottoman periods, and features important to the Islamic architectural tradition were constructed during Ottoman ownership of the structure.
Constantine I
Read more about Constantine I.
Believers of which faiths have worshipped in the Hagia Sophia?
The structure originally erected on the site of the Hagia Sophia was a Christian cathedral called the Megale Ekklesia, which was commissioned by the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine I. Prior to that, the site had been home to a pagan temple. It went through another religious conversion after the conquest of Constantinople by Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in 1453, when it was designated a mosque. It would remain so for many centuries, until being secularized in 1934 by the Turkish Republic’s first president. It was converted into a museum a year later, a decision which remains controversial.
Mehmed II
The original church on the site of the Hagia Sophia is said to have been ordered to be built by Constantine I in 325 on the foundations of a pagan temple. His son, Constantius II, consecrated it in 360. It was damaged in 404 by a fire that erupted during a riot following the second banishment of St. John Chrysostom, then patriarch of Constantinople. It was rebuilt and enlarged by the Roman emperor Constans I. The restored building was rededicated in 415 by Theodosius II. The church was burned again in the Nika insurrection of January 532, a circumstance that gave Justinian I an opportunity to envision a splendid replacement.
The resultant Hagia Sophia was built in the remarkably short time of about six years, being completed in 537 ce. Unusual for the period in which it was built, the names of the building’s architects—Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus—are well known, as is their familiarity with mechanics and mathematics. The structure now standing is essentially the 6th-century edifice, although an earthquake caused a partial collapse of the dome in 558 (restored 562) and there were two further partial collapses, after which it was rebuilt to a smaller scale and the whole church reinforced from the outside. It was restored again in the mid-14th century. For more than a millennium it was the Cathedral of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. It was looted in 1204 by the Venetians and the Crusaders on the Fourth Crusade.
After the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed II had it repurposed as a mosque, with the addition of a wooden minaret (on the exterior, a tower used for the summons to prayer), a great chandelier, a mihrab (niche indicating the direction of Mecca), and a minbar (pulpit). Either he or his son Bayezid II erected the red minaret that stands on the southeast corner of the structure. The original wooden minaret did not survive. Bayezid II erected the narrow white minaret on the northeast side of the mosque. The two identical minarets on the western side were likely commissioned by Selim II or Murad III and built by renowned Ottoman architect Sinan in the 1500s.
In 1934 Turkish Pres. Kemal Atatürk secularized the building, and in 1935 it was made into a museum. In 1985 the Hagia Sophia was designated a component of a UNESCO World Heritage site called the Historic Areas of Istanbul, which includes that city’s other major historic buildings and locations. Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made the controversial decision in 2020 to convert the building back into a mosque. Islamic prayers were held shortly after the announcement with curtains partially concealing the building’s Christian imagery. As Turkey’s most popular tourist destination, the Hagia Sophia remained open to visitors.
Are you a student? Get Britannica Premium for only 24.95 - a 67% discount!
Learn More
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Jan 12, 2018 · The Hagia Sophia is an enormous architectural marvel in Istanbul, Turkey, that was originally built as a Christian basilica nearly 1,500 years ago. Much like the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the ...
Nov 19, 2015 · Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, constructed 532-537, continues to be revered as one of the most important structures in the world. Hagia Sophia ( Greek Ἁγία Σοφία, for 'Holy Wisdom') was designed to be the major basilica of the Byzantine Empire and held the record for the largest dome in the world until the Duomo was built in Florence in ...
- Thomas Cohen
Hagia Sophia sits astride an earthquake fault. The building was severely damaged by three quakes during its early history. Extensive repairs were required. Despite the repairs, one assumes that the city saw the survival of the church, amid city rubble, as yet another indication of divine guardianship of the church.
- I was just wondering why Beth and Steven didn't do a video on this church. Is it not open to the pub...It is open and we hope to make a video about it early next year.
- Is the Hagia Sophia similar to the Pantheon, in that were the dome continued on to form a perfect sp...In Hagia Sophia the dome rests on pendentives - it comes down onto a square, and the pendentives are shapes that make that transition. In the Panth...
- What stone was used for the capitals? In the first picture, it looks almost metallic, adding to the ...That is stone -- it simply looks metallic in that specific lighting.
- So, has this place been standing since it was built, or was it reconstructed? I know it had repairs ...That's a great question to ask, but I think for many of these surviving buildings, the answer is as unique as their architecture and must be answer...
- When the Hagia Sophia was first opened, was it open to the public?as a church (its first function), it was open to the public. as a mosque (its second function), it was open to the public as a museum (its current...
- Why was the boy sent away and forbidden to return?Because the Angel made a promise to guard the tools and the building as long the boy was gone. If the boy never returned, the Angel and its divine...
- Did the Ottomans build the minarets and change anything else in the Hagia Sophia?When the Ottomans took over, they started taking down the mosaics and added the minarets. There were so many mosaic that they actually stopped taki...
People also ask
Where is Hagia Sophia located?
Why is Hagia Sophia important?
What is the floor plan of the Hagia Sophia?
Is Hagia Sophia a mosque?
Hagia Sophia is open to visitors every day, opening hours from 09:00 am to 7:30 pm in 2024. Visiting area of the mosque is closed to visitors between 12:30-14:30 due to Friday Prayers. Admission tickets can be purchased only from the ticket booth. There are no Museum Passes available for visiting the Hagia Sophia.
The Hagia Sophia combines a longitudinal basilica and a centralized building in a wholly original manner, with a huge 32-metre (105-foot) main dome supported on pendentives and two semidomes, one on either side of the longitudinal axis. Though Justinian’s domed basilicas are the models from which Byzantine architecture developed, the Hagia ...
