Hagia Sophia

Introduction

Hagia Sophia is the one of the greatest visited places in the world and also has been named 'the eighth wonder of the world' 'by East Roman Philon. The building of the Hagia Sophia began on February 23, 532 nearly within 5 years and 10 months and it was used as a church for 916 years'' Wikipedia (2005, January 1). But after the conquest of Istanbul by Sultan Mehmed, the Hagia Sophia was changed into a mosque for 482 years. By command from Atatürk Mustafa Kemal and decision of the Council of Ministers Hagia Sophia was converted to a museum in 1935.

History

In the era of Constantia's II the imperial palace was being developed to be the main and biggest churches in the world and to the definition of the Byzantine heritage. Because of Nika Revolt and subsequent riots, this church was largely burned then the Theodosius II ordered to be built a second church by the architect Rufinus and he decide to build it with a wooden roof and several marble blocks to so that it would survive to the present day.Hagia Sophia characterized by a distinctive geographical location near the Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus and the present Hagia Sophia has become one of the most famous tourist landmarks in Turkey

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 Origins  

In 532 the Arian bishop Eudoxius started building the Hagia Sophia to make it one of the biggest churches in Istanbul but because of the earthquakes and the geographical nature of Turkey it took more time to build and it was built within 5 years and 10 months and they built it to be the main church. In 1453 Sultan Mehmed wanted to destroy the Hagia Sophia because he was believed that it had a lot of treasures then he decided to turn it as a biggest mosque in that city but the church was in a ramshackle state. For this reason Mehmed II decided to refurbish the building as well as the demolition of the building and rebuilding and Mehmed attended the first Friday prayer in the mosque on 1 June 1453. ''The Hagia Sophia became the first imperial mosque of Istanbul'' Sacred Sites at Sacred Destinations. By order from Atatürk Mustafa Kemal in 1935 he started converting the mosque to a museum because the Hagia Sophia has a large number of antiques and artifacts. So he ordered then removed and the marble floor and removed the white plaster covering many of the mosaics. In the era of Constantia's II the Hagia Sophia church cost 145000 kg of gold to build.

Present Hagia Sophia

The Hagia Sophia is one of the most important tourist archaeological sites in Turkey and it represents a model of Byzantine civilization in addition to the geographical location and in the past, was one of the most famous churches in the world. At present the Turkish government would like to renovate this museum while maintaining the architectural form and attention to rare antiques. The dome of the Hagia Sophia mosque is of exquisite beauty and sophistication and at the time was a huge dome not seen before. It looked as if it was hanging in the air.

Conclusion

Currently the Hagia Sophia is a museum for visitors and ''tourists are entering into the main building of nine gates the dome height of 55.6 meters and a diameter of 32 meters and this dome sits on four columns, each with a height of 24.3 meters'' archnet (1991, January 1) which makes the tourists travel to the museum to learn about the Byzantine civilization and it help to recover the tourism activity in Turkey.