Hagia Sophia’s immense dome gathers the eye upward, while mosaics, calligraphy, and layered architectural changes reveal centuries of religious and political life. The building has served as a church and mosque, then museum, and again as a mosque.
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The dome seems to hover above the space, but its apparent lightness rests on a demanding structural design. The present Hagia Sophia was completed under Emperor Justinian and opened in 537, after earlier churches on the same site.
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UpgradeQuick facts
- The present Hagia Sophia opened in 537 under Justinian.
- It was converted to a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1453.
- The building served as a museum beginning in 1935 and returned to mosque status in 2020.
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