The Hagia Sophia
(Ο Αγια Σοφια)
(Pronounced Ah-YEE-ah So-FEE-ah)

The Hagia Sophia (aka Saint Sophia, Sancta Sophia, or Church of Divine Wisdom) was first built in the fourth century in Constantinople (now known under the Turkish name of Istanbul). That church was destroyed in a revolt, and the current building was erected on orders of Roman Emperor Justinian I in AD 532 and took five years and 10,000 workers to build. It was the center of the Orthodox Church for a thousand years and also the place of the coronation of the Byzantine Emperors. When Constantinople was captured in 1453 by the Muslim Turks they changed the Hagia Sofia into a mosque, and built several more (including the Sulemaniye and Blue Mosques) based on the Hagia Sophia. (The four minarets [towers] and some buttressing were added to the building by the Turks.) Ayasofya, as it is now called, became a museum in 1935 on order of Mustafa Kemal Attaturk (the founder of the modern Turkish Republic), and many Byzantine icons and images have since been uncovered after centuries under plaster.

This is a 17th Century painting of how the Hagia Sofia may have looked when first built


Approximate reconstruction of how the Church appeared in the 12th century


A mosaic depicting the church at its peak of glory


An aerial view of the Ayasofya museum as it is today

A view of the museum from the south

An interior view of the Hagia Sofia, facing East

Note: the Sultan's box to your front left, as well as the round Muslim plaques - each plaque is 25 feet across! The central dome itself (not visible in this pic) is over 180 feet above the ground

Some prominent Icons uncovered since Ataturk’s time

1. An icon of Christos Pantokrator (Christ the Ruler of the Universe) from the Deesis icon
2. An icon of Christ flanked by Emperor Constantine IX and Empress Zoe

As a Christian (and as a Greek) I believe the day will come when the Hagia Sophia will restored to Christendom and once again take its rightful place as a Christian landmark. The minarets will be removed and the Cross will once again stand on top of the dome. When this day comes, the restored Church of Holy Wisdom may look something like this:

LINKS OF INTEREST
Two links from the official American site of His All-Holiness the Patriarch of Constantinople
http://www.patriarchate.org/ecumenical_patriarchate/chapter_4/html/hagia_sophia.html
http://www.patriarchate.org/HAGIA_SOPHIA/

Byzantium 1200: The Hagia Sophia - An amazing computer reconstruction of the Holy Church as it appeared in the year 1200. Be sure to check out his other pages on Constantinople of the time.
Turkish Ministry of Culture - Ayasofya Museum
Byzantium: The Lost Empire
Fordham University's extensive site on the Eastern Empire