The Hagia Sophia, located in Istanbul, Turkey, is a major historical and artistic monument famous for having been used by different religions. The UNESCO World Heritage Site was originally ...

The current Hagia Sophia was built in the 6th century when Constantinople — as Istanbul was then called — was the heart of the Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire that emerged as Ancient Rome ...

Visiting Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom), Christianity’s first mighty cathedral — now a museum — inaugurated by Byzantine Emperor Justinian in Constantinople in 537, is a mixed blessing.

Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics" From a historical perspective, the conversion of religiously and politically charged buildings such as Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is no new phenomenon ...

Hagia Sophia was built as an Orthodox Christian cathedral and first converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest nine centuries later. ... Four minarets were added to the exterior, ...

Thousands of people attended prayers at Istanbul's historic Hagia Sophia on Friday, completing the famous building's conversion from a secular space into a Muslim house of worship. It had been a ...

Built nearly 1,500 years ago, Hagia Sophia was the first cathedral in the Roman Empire. After a thousand years, the Ottomans converted the structure into a mosque following the sack of Constantinople.

Turkey’s plans for Hagia Sophia do not include sharing it with Christians for worship ceremonies. Non-Muslims will only be allowed in as tourists.

Whether you’re a believer or not, visiting Hagia Sophia is a spiritual experience. The architectural genius of this place of worship — which was built as a church in 537CE before its ...