ayia sophia information

One Of the world's most inportant, greatest and influential buildings.It is not dedicated to a saint but to God's Holy Winsdom. Build during the reign of Emperor Justinian and designed by the great Greek architects Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus.It replaced the old church of Ayia Sophia burned during the Nika riots.The building started in 532 AD and finished in 537 AD. The most lavish and expensive materials were used like marble from the Marmara islands,marble from the Peloponese and porphyri columns from as far as Sudan.A very sophistigated and complex building for it's time,It covers an area of 7570 square m,it has a dome of 31m in diameter and is 55m high.It was the biggest building in the world in it's time and it remained so for another 1089 years until St Peter cathedral was build in Rome in 1626 AD.

In it's hayday it boasted 70 priests,was the imperial church of Byzantium,the centre of Christedom in the biggest and richest city in the world.The church and the city of Constantinople suffered great damage during the terrible 4th crusade,The marauding Catholic crusaders under the instigation of the Venetians,especially their Doge Dandolo,looted the city and segregated the church,they actually commited the biggest robbery the world has ever seen to this day.They melted down works of art,stole icons,and carried away whole iconostasis.most of the treasures were dispersed throughout Europe,a large amount are still in St Marks church in Venice.

After the fall of the city to the Ottoman Turks the church was turned into a mosque,some minor buildings were added and four tall minarets.They carried on maintaining the building although the frescos and mosaics were covered with plaster.In 1934 Ayia Sophia was turned into a Museum under the orders of Ataturk and it remained so ever since.It's the most visited site in Turkey and it's infuence can be seen from the Taj Mahal Mausoleum in India to the Colonial Spanish churches of South America