| Home | Free Articles for Your Site | Submit an Article | Advertise | Link to Us | Search | Contact Us |
This site is an archive of old articles

    SEARCH ARTICLES
    Custom Search


vertical line

Article Surfing Archive



Who Visits Saint Sophia in Istanbul? - Articles Surfing


Saint Sophia is finest and most famous example of BYZANTINE architecture in the world. It is located just in heart of old Istanbul, next to the Blue Mosque in the Sultan Ahmet Square (Sultanahmet Meydani) of Istanbul.

Four minarets have been added to St. Sophia (Hagia Sophia), after Ottomans captured Constantinople at 1453. Today Saint Sophia is neither a Church nor a Mosque but it is a museum.

Hagia Sophia (Saint Sophia) was built as a Constantinian Church by the emperor Justinian I, between A.D. 532 and 537 and in its ancient time, it represented the largest covered space in the world. Its architects were Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles.

It was built only in of five years. On May 558, the dome of the church collapsed due to a December 557 earthquake, and though a new dome was (or has been) quickly rebuilt.

HAGIA SOPHIA is a Greek phrase that means 'Holy Wisdom'. This ancient basilica also called SAINT SOPHIA. Turks call 'Ayasofya M'zesi' or in short 'AYASOFYA'.

After its construction ended, Hagia Sophia served as a Church for the first nine centuries and when Constantinople was taken by the Ottomans' in 1453, Sultan Mehmet II (FATIH SULTAN MEHMET) added 4 minarets, a fountain (sadirvan) and mausoleum (turbe). He converted it into a Mosque and it served as a Mosque for 5 centuries.

Ottoman additions to Hagia Sophia include the huge wooden shields emblazoned with gilded calligraphy of Koran verses. Also addition of niche (The Mihrab) indicated the direction of Mecca.

Then in 1935, during Turkish Republic years, the Mosque was secularized and made into a museum under MUSTAFA KEMAL ATAT'RK's (founder of the Turkish Republic), it became a national museum -as it is today-.

Hagia Sophia's building dimensions are 76mt (250ft) by 72mt (235ft) and this marbles place's inside appearance is one of great space, height and richness.

Construction contains marble-lined walls have many colors and designs. Beautiful Byzantine mosaics decorate some of the walls and vaults.

Over the center area is the great dome which raises 56mt (185ft) above the ground and is 33mt (107ft) in diameter (slightly larger than diameter of the U.S. Capitol).

Every year nearly 5 million tourist visit Istanbul and the first stop in their visit is Saint Sophia.

The reasons in visiting the Saint Sophia vary according to the visitors. Generally people visit Saint Sophia because it is a holy place for all Christians and other reasons are the historical and the architectural value of this marvelous building...

The Hagia Sophia (Saint Sophia) Museum opens to the public everyday, except Monday. Telephone: 90-212-522-0989

Submitted by:

Murat Aydogdu

Murat Aydogdu is college and high school graduated in tourism management in Istanbul / Turkey. Generally writing articles for http://www.hotelsistanbul.net.



        RELATED SITES






https://articlesurfing.org/travel_and_leisure/who_visits_saint_sophia_in_istanbul.html

Copyright © 1995 - Photius Coutsoukis (All Rights Reserved).










ARTICLE CATEGORIES

Aging
Arts and Crafts
Auto and Trucks
Automotive
Business
Business and Finance
Cancer Survival
Career
Classifieds
Computers and Internet
Computers and Technology
Cooking
Culture
Education
Education #2
Entertainment
Etiquette
Family
Finances
Food and Drink
Food and Drink B
Gadgets and Gizmos
Gardening
Health
Hobbies
Home Improvement
Home Management
Humor
Internet
Jobs
Kids and Teens
Learning Languages
Leadership
Legal
Legal B
Marketing
Marketing B
Medical Business
Medicines and Remedies
Music and Movies
Online Business
Opinions
Parenting
Parenting B
Pets
Pets and Animals
Poetry
Politics
Politics and Government
Real Estate
Recreation
Recreation and Sports
Science
Self Help
Self Improvement
Short Stories
Site Promotion
Society
Sports
Travel and Leisure
Travel Part B
Web Development
Wellness, Fitness and Diet
World Affairs
Writing
Writing B