Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque

Hagia Sophia stands in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district and is one of the most important surviving monuments of both Byzantine Christianity and Ottoman Islam. The present building was commissioned by Emperor Justinian I and completed in 537, with Anthemios of Tralles and Isidoros of Miletus traditionally identified as its principal architects.

For centuries it served as the great imperial church of Constantinople. After the Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453, it was converted into a mosque and gradually received minarets, a mihrab, minbar and other Islamic additions while much of its Byzantine structure remained intact. It functioned as a museum from 1934 until 2020 and is now again an active mosque.

Hagia Sophia lies within the UNESCO-listed Historic Areas of Istanbul. Its exceptional importance comes from the coexistence of major Christian mosaics, Byzantine engineering and Ottoman religious architecture in one building. Visitors encounter a living place of Muslim worship as well as a monument carrying many centuries of Christian and Islamic history, so prayer areas, religious practice and current access rules should be respected.