The story of Hagia Sophia
Emperor Justinian built Hagia Sophia in just five years and dedicated it in 537. Its 31-metre dome seemed to float on light, and for almost a thousand years it was the largest cathedral in the world and the heart of the Byzantine Empire.
When Sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople in 1453 he prayed here and turned it into a mosque, adding minarets, a mihrab and great calligraphy roundels. In 1934 it became a museum, and in 2020 it was reopened as a mosque, the Ayasofya-i Kebir Camii.
