Hagia Sophia Original Design

Reverting hagia sophia to its original form as a mosque was a dream of my youth erdogan said failing to note that the building s original form was as a cathedral on friday following a visit to the tomb of sultan mehmet ii the conquerer who wrested constantinople from christian hands.
Hagia sophia original design. 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. Hagia sophia had been a museum since turkey s establishment as a secular state. 29 1453 and the fall of the city to the muslim armies of the ottoman empire it was the largest. Ayasofya i kebir camii şerifi and formerly the church of hagia sophia is a late antique place of worship in istanbul built in 537 as the patriarchal cathedral of the imperial.
Image copyright reuters image caption mosaics can be seen on. Hagia sophia was constructed as the cathedral church of constantinople and from 527 until sept. Holy wisdom officially the hagia sophia grand mosque turkish. Hagia sophia was built and consecrated as an orthodox place of worship in the 6 th century by the eastern roman emperor justinian i.
Turkish president recep tayyip erdoğan signed a decree july 10 converting it into a mosque following a ruling by. It is a structure of great architectural beauty and even greater symbolic value for world orthodoxy as its prime cathedral. Hagia sophia s complex history began almost 1 500 years ago when byzantine emperor justinian built the huge church in the year 537. Tatiana popova shutterstock the hagia sophia whose name means holy wisdom is a domed monument originally built as a cathedral in constantinople now istanbul turkey in the.