Hagia Sophia
Landmark
Almost 1,500 years old, and for a thousand years the largest church in the world.
The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul was built in the year 537, in less than six years. Its dome is 31 metres across and hangs 55 metres above the floor. Nobody had ever built anything like it.
It was a church for more than nine hundred years. In 1453 it became a mosque, and four slender towers were added. In 1935 it became a museum, and since 2020 it has been a mosque again.
- built
- 537
- the dome is high
- 55 m
- the dome is wide
- 31 m
- 1
The name means holy wisdom.
- 2
Forty windows around the foot of the dome make it seem to float on light.
- 3
Inside, Christian mosaics of gold and Islamic writing hang side by side.
Question 1 of 2
Read about Turkey