The Hagia Sophia Museum embodies the different cultures that the city has embraced throughout history. This ancient church turned into a mosque before it opened as a museum that is intended for millions of tourists annually who come to see the amazing architecture and breathtaking mosaics from the different civilizations found in this historic building that mediates The city tells stories about the ancient Egyptians, Ottomans, and others.
Hagia Sophia, the crossroads of religions
Hagia Sophia was a church built at the current site of the museum, where the construction of the Church of Constantius II and then the Church of Theodosius II was built in 532 AD, and the Byzantine Emperor Justin I ordered the construction of the largest ornate churches on the ruins of the second church after it was destroyed. After that, it became the seat of the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, and in 1453, the Hagia Sophia transformed into an imperial mosque when the Ottomans invaded the city, and it remained a house of Islamic worship until 1935 when the Hagia Sophia took its present form and turned into a museum when the Turkish state announced its adoption of secularism.
The art of architecture is amazing and amazing
The touches of Byzantine civilization are clearly visible on the outer structure of Hagia Sophia, and the dome, which contains footprints of a horse, is only reinforced with four columns to look like almost hanging in the air, and is enriched with a group of 40 colored windows that drop from the base of the dome to help reduce the weight of the dome on the structure It directs natural light inside the museum in a distinctive way. On the other hand, Islamic culture has left its mark on Hagia Sophia, which contains four minarets decorated with a group of wonderful Islamic textures.
Mosaic paintings tell a story thousands of years old
Hagia Sophia includes many mosaic paintings dating back to the Christian religion, some of which were destroyed, while many were shipped to Italy after its transformation into a mosque, and there is a collection of decorative artwork on the Islamic way.
The wonders of Hagia Sophia
Some consider the Hagia Sophia Museum the eighth wonder of the world, as it contains a wooden door said to be from the ship of the Prophet Noah, peace be upon him, and some symbols that some ancient civilizations are famous for. It also contains two wells of water that visitors claim to have a great healing power, according to what is said if he drank A person three times in a row on Saturdays from the well in the main hall will cure him of all the diseases he suffers from.
In addition, inside the museum there is a large column known as the pressering that remains moist even in the warmest days of summer, and also contains at its base a small hole where visitors wish to cure diseases when they put their finger in the hole.
