Hagia Sophia Church, Mosque and Museum

Hagia Sophia Museum is open everyday except Monday between 9:30 am to 5 pm. The admission fee is 10 YTL which is approximately 8 EUR or 7 USD in 2006 season.

Hagia Sophia is one of the most extraordinary buildings in the history of architecture and from the Golden Age of Byzantium. It played such an important role in Byzantine Empire as well as in Ottoman Empire as a mosque.

The word "Hagia" in Greek means "Divine" and "Sophia" means "Wisdom". "Divine Wisdom" is one of the attributes of Jesus Christ and this church is devoted to his divine wisdom. The Church of Hagia Irene was another church which was also devoted to "peace" attribute of Jesus Christ. The church was first completed in 360 during the reign of Constantinus. It was called as "Megala Ekklessia", the Great Church. This church was burnt in 404 during a revolt. A new church was built in the same place, by emperor Theodosius on Oct,405. It was also destroyed in a fire. The third and the last church was completed in 537 by Emperor Justinian I. It was completed only in 5 years. Emperor Justinian I was a very strong believer of Christianity and he wanted to use the church as a means for enlarging the scope of Christianity. This church served as the heart of the empire, all coronation and major baptism ceremonies took place here. When Turks conquered Istanbul in 1453, the first thing Mehmed "the Conqueror" did was to order the conversion of the church into a mosque. Because Prophet Mohammad had said that the army who conquered Istanbul would have Allah's Grace. From then on, the Church served as a great mosque, with four minarets added in different periods. The mosaics on the walls were covered with plaster because they were forbidden in Islam. Actually this helped the preservation of the mosaics and frescoes. The mosque was carpeted and the pulpit was put on the southern part of the church. Hagia Sophia served as a mosque until Mustafa Kemal Ataturk ordered the conversion of the mosque into a museum. He believed that it was a world heritage and people could come and see it. Therefore, in 1929, the plasters started to be removed and in 1940s, it was reopened as a museum.