From its initial conversion until the construction in 1616 of the nearby Sultan Ahmed Mosque, aka the Blue Mosque, it was the principal mosque of Istanbul. Islamic architectural features were added, such as a minbar (pulpit), four minarets, and a mihrab РІР‚вЂњ a niche indicating the direction of prayer (qibla).

The mosaics depicting Jesus, his mother Mary, Christian saints, and angels were eventually destroyed or plastered over. The bells, altar, iconostasis, ambo and baptistery were removed and relics destroyed.

Although some parts of the city had fallen into disrepair, the cathedral had been maintained with funds set aside for this purpose, and the Christian cathedral made a strong impression on the new Ottoman rulers who conceived its conversion. The patriarchate moved to the Church of the Holy Apostles, which became the city's cathedral. The doge of Venice who led the Fourth Crusade and the 1204 Sack of Constantinople, Enrico Dandolo, was buried in the church.Р”Р„fter the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, it was converted to a mosque by Mehmed the Conqueror. In 1204, it was converted by the Fourth Crusaders to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Empire, before being restored to the Eastern Orthodox Church upon the return of the Byzantine Empire in 1261. The centre of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly one thousand years, the building witnessed the excommunication of Patriarch Michael I Cerularius officially delivered by Humbert of Silva Candida, the papal envoy of Pope Leo IX in 1054, an act that is commonly considered the start of the EastРІР‚вЂњWest Schism. Sophia is the Latin transliteration of the Greek word for wisdom and, although sometimes referred to as Sancta Sophia, 'Saint Sophia', it is not connected with Sophia the Martyr. Its patronal feast falls on 25 December (Christmas), the commemoration of the incarnation of the Logos in Christ. It has been described as 'holding a unique position in the Christian world', and architectural and cultural icon of Byzantine and Eastern Orthodox civilization.The church was dedicated to the Holy Wisdom, the Logos, the second person of the Trinity. Beginning with subsequent Byzantine architecture, Hagia Sophia became the paradigmatic Orthodox church form and its architectural style was emulated by Ottoman mosques a thousand years later. Being the episcopal see of the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, it remained the world's largest cathedral for nearly a thousand years, until Seville Cathedral was completed in 1520. The present Justinianic building was the third church of the same name to occupy the site, the prior one having been destroyed in the Nika riots. The building was designed by the Greek geometers Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles.

It is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to have 'changed the history of architecture'. In 2020, it re-opened as a mosque.Р”В«uilt by the eastern Roman emperor Justinian I as the Christian cathedral of Constantinople for the state church of the Roman Empire between 532 and 537, the church was then the world's largest interior space and among the first to employ a fully pendentive dome. In 1935 the secular Turkish Republic established it as a museum. In 1453, after the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire, it was converted into a mosque.

Built in 537 as the patriarchal cathedral of the imperial capital of Constantinople, it was the largest Christian church of the eastern Roman Empire (the Byzantine Empire) and the Eastern Orthodox Church, except during the Latin Empire from 1204 to 1261, when it became the city's Roman Catholic cathedral. 'Holy Wisdom'), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (Turkish: Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Р•С›erifi) and formerly the Church of Hagia Sophia, is a Late Antique place of worship in Istanbul. Hagia Sophia ( from KoinР”вЂњ Greek: Р±СвЂ°РћС–РћР‡РћВ± РћР€РћС—РџвЂ РћР‡РћВ±, romanized: HagР“Вa SophР“Вa Latin: Sancta Sophia, lit. Wikipedia (0.00 / 0 votes) Rate this definition:

Hahi sophia