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Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia is the most renowned Byzantine
cathedral and the best known Christian church in Istanbul. The church of
the Divine Wisdom, the first church of Hagia Sophia was planned by
Constantıne the Great, but it was built by his son and heir, Constantius . For almost
a thousand years Hagia Sophia
served as the cathedral of Constantinople of the Byzantine Empire.The
name, Hagia Sophia, means sacred wisdom.
The first
church,
Hagia Sophia, was built between the years 337-361 A.D. Construction was
begun during the reign of Constantius, son and successor of Constantine
The Great. The church was destroyed by a fire on 20 June in the year
A.D. 404.
The second church of Hagia
Sophia was rebuilt by Emperor Theodosius. It was completed in the
year A.D. 415. The second church was burnt down during the Nika revolt
in the year A.D. 532.
The third church of Hagia
Sophia was rebuilt between the years 532 and 537 by the Emperor
Justinian . An earthquake damaged the structure in A.D. 558.
It was rebuilt
by the young Isidoros.
Hagia Sophia has been restored
several times during the Byzantine and Ottoman period. On the Turkish
Conquest of Istanbul. Sultan Mehmet The Conqueror entered the city
on 29 May 1453. The Conqueror lead the first Friday prayers and ordered it be converted into a
mosque. Four
minarets of the building were placed at different times after the Conquest.
The
southeastern minaret was added during the reign of Sultan
Mehmet II,
 the
northeast minaret by Beyazit II and the two minarets were added by Murat III.
The major restoration to the building was done during Sultan Abdulmecit's
reign in
1847, by a Swiss architect Gaspar Fossatio. Mehmet the Conquerer added the
mihrab and Suleyman the Magnificent donated the two gigantic candles on
each side of the mihrab. The building was used as a mosque until 1934.
For almost five hundred years after the
Turkish Conquest it served as the imperial mosque of Istanbul. Hagia Sophia
served as a mosque during the early years of the Turkish Republic, then
declared a national monument and converted into a museum by the order of
Atatuk on 24 October 1934.
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