Hagia Sophia was constructed by the Byzantine emperor Justinian between 532 and 537. It was the third church of this name on the same site.
The first was a basilica erected on the site of a former Roman temple, and according to the historian, Socrates was dedicated on 15 February 360. It was destroyed by fire in the year 404 in an uprising against Emperor Arcadius.
The second church was built by Emperor Theodosius II and dedicated on 10 October 415, only to be burnt down in the Nika Revolt on 13 January 532, during the fifth year of the reign of Justinian I (527-565).
Crushing the revolt, Justinian commanded that a new church be built on a far grander scale than the previous two. The chronicler Procopius relates that two architects, the Mathematician Anthemius of Tralles and Geometry specialist Isidorus of Miletus, were appointed for the task. One hundred master craftsmen, one thousand journeymen, and ten thousand laborers were employed.
After 5 years of ruling, Emperor Justinian I became unpopular and people were aggrieved at the high taxes. While Justinian was able to suppress the Nika Riots, it was time to build the new Hagia Sophia which was considered as a victory for both Justinian himself and Christianity.
Justinian wanted the church to be completed in the shortest possible time and sent orders out to all the provinces of his realm, commanding that columns and marbles from ancient cities be sent to Istanbul. Shiploads arrived from Syria, Egypt, and Greece, as well as from Asia Minor. Construction commenced on 23 February 532 and apart from the decoration was completed in an astonishingly short time of 5 years, ten months, and 24 days.
The church was dedicated on 27 December 537 at a magnificent opening ceremony. Justinian drove up to the church in his victory chariot and was welcomed in the atrium by Patriarch Menas. The two men entered the church hand in hand. Justinian was so impressed by its splendor, that he exclaimed, ‘Thanks be to God for blessing me with the good fortune of constructing such a place of worship.’
At the inauguration, one thousand bulls, six thousand sheep, six hundred stags, one thousand pigs, ten thousand chickens, and ten thousand roosters were sacrificed, and alms were distributed to the poor.
Four minarets were added to the outside of the building at various times after its conversion into a mosque. The vast buttresses against the exterior walls were built in the 16th century by the Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan to support the building, and have enabled it to survive to the present day.
Additions within the church are the mihrab or prayer niche inside the apse, the bronze lamps to either side of the niche which were brought here from Buda, and the pulpit and imperial and muezzin galleries of carved marble. The library beyond the south aisle was built by Mahmud I in 1739.
All the additions were designed with the character of the existing building in mind, the use of marble for the Ottoman additions reflecting the extensive use of this material in the Byzantine building.
The inscriptions in the dome and the large calligraphic panels bearing the names of God, Muhammed, and the four caliphs, are the work of the celebrated 19th-century calligrapher, Kazasker Mustafa Izzet Efendi.
The museum first started to welcome its guests from 1st Feb. 1935. Since then, it has been one of the most iconic structures not only within the country but the world. Hagia Sophia hosted more than 30 million people since 2007, meaning more than 3 million visitors annually.
Hagia Sophia started to serve as a mosque starting from 24 July 2020.
Open Every Day (except prayer times)
Admission: Free
Since Hagia Sophia is sitting on the first hill of Istanbul, the old city is all walking distance to the other highlights such as the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, the Hippodrome, Basilica Cistern, Grand Bazaar and more.
