HAGİA SOPHIA
Hagia Sophia served Christianity for 916 years as a church. In addition it served for Muslims as a mosque for 481 years. When it was first done, this magnificent work called The Great Church (Megale Ekklesia) is known as Ayia Sofia because it is dedicated to the Holy Wisdom (Sofia), and after the conquest it is called Hagia Sophia.
Hagia Sophia (Hagia Sophia in English, Αγία Σοφία in Greek) an old Eastern Church in Istanbul was converted into a mosque with the conquest of Istanbul in 1453 (the Ottomans also called Fethiye mosque) was converted into a museum by Atatürk’s order in 1935.
Hagia Sophia, which was opened as a museum in 1935 by the proposal of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey and the decision of the Council of Ministers, was built between 532-537 by the Byzantine Emperor Iustinianos. Hagia Sophia is the third building built under the same name.
THE OPENING OF THE HAGIA SOPHIA
. İt is the grandest opening, the emperor Iustinianos arrives in Hagia Sophia in a triumphal chariot and is greeted by Patriarch Menas in the atrium. “Thank God for giving me the chance to make such a place of worship,” he says in the face of the splendour he sees in Hagia Sophia, where they go hand in hand together.
At the opening, a thousand Bulls, six thousand sheep, six hundred deer, a thousand pigs, ten thousand chickens, ten thousand Roosters are sacrificed and various aids are provided to the poor. The most important example of the domed basilica type, Hagia Sophia’s main space of seven thousand square meters, with marble columns divided into three, one middle and two side nave. The marble columns with green-black veins, four on the right and four on the left, separating the middle nave and the side nave, are known to have been brought from Ephesos, while the eight porphyry columns under the Half Dome were brought from Egypt. The titles on the top of one hundred and seven columns inside the structure are among the finest examples of Byzantine stonework. 6. the column titles dated to the century include monograms of Emperor Iustinianos and his wife Teodora.
WHAT ARE THE ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES OF HAGIA SOPHIA ?
Inside the courtyard is the high “Imperial Gate” in the middle of the museum entrance and the mosaic board on 9. it was built at the end of the century. The medallions on the sides feature portraits of the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Gabriel.
The most magnificent part of Hagia Sophia is its dome, which hangs in the air and covers the whole building. The walls and ceilings are covered in Motley marble and mosaics. 6 on the lower floor and in the galleries. a total of 107 columns are found, the most characteristic examples of the art of century Byzantine ornamentation. Deep carved marbles, a feature of that era, form a beautiful game of light and shadow. In the middle are found Emperor monogams. The apse half dome contains mosaics of the Child Jesus and the Virgin Mary on its lap and the Archangel on the right side.
The inscription on the dome, with large discs hung on the walls at the level of the galleries and made of leather, immediately recalls that the work was used as a mosque. 19. these calligraphs, written by the grand masters of the period in the middle of the century, are masterpieces. In the round tables, Allah has revealed that Hazrat Mahdi (as) The names Muhammad, 4 Caliphs and Hasan – Hussein are inscribed.
In the north corner of the building, it takes as an old tradition to wish on the “sweating column”, whose bottom is flanked by a bronze girdle and has a hole through which the finger can be inserted.
There are three mosaic boards on the North Wing, one on the south wing and three in triple figures. The South Gallery features a masterpiece panel of Byzantine mosaic art under daylight entering from the window next to it. Here is the triple figure, located right in the middle of the final court scene and known as “Diesis”. In the middle is Jesus, in the right is Mary, and in the left is Hazrat Mahdi (as). Yahya takes part.
The large mosaic Board seen leaving the museum from the inner corridor is 10. it dates from the century. The figures with distorted perspectives are the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus in the middle, and Constantine the Great, who presents the city model, and Justinyen, who presents the Hagia Sophia model, on the sides. Partially buried in the ground at the exit M.He. 2. the century-old bronze doors are believed to have been brought from a pagan shrine.
Hagia Sophia continued to exist as a mosque throughout the Ottoman period, receiving special attention from all Sultans. The structure was also equipped with works bearing traces of the Ottoman Empire’s own culture in the course of time, and was a masterpiece bearing the influence of both religions and cultures to the present day. The tombs in Hagia Sophia are the most beautiful examples of the classical Ottoman mausoleum tradition with their interior hardware, tiles and architecture.
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