Inside Hagia Sophia, one of the most emblematic religious places in the world. | Visit Istanbul

Discovering Hagia Sophia, one of the supreme achievements in the history of architecture. | Visit Istanbul

Simply put, Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is one of the most magnificent, influential, historic, and revered buildings on Earth. For centuries, it served as the greatest church in Christendom. It was home to the Byzantine Emperor and Orthodox Patriarch (the “eastern pope”), and a beacon of civilization during Western Europe’s so-called “dark ages.” When Muslims conquered Constantinople, this great church suddenly became one of the world’s greatest mosques. And when it was secularized in the 20th cent