CHANGE
HAGIA SOPHIA
The original church on the site of the Hagia
Sophia is said to have been ordered to be
built by Constantine I in 325 on the
foundations of a pagan temple. His
son, Constantius II, consecrated it in 360. It
was damaged in 404 by a fire that erupted
during a riot following the second
banishment of St. John Chrysostom,
then patriarch of Constantinople. It was
rebuilt and enlarged by the Roman
emperor Constans I. The restored building
was rededicated in 415 by Theodosius II.
The church was burned again in the Nika
insurrection of January 532, a circumstance
that gave Justinian I an opportunity
to envision a splendid replacement. The
resultant Hagia Sophia was built in the
remarkably short time of about six years,
being completed in 537 CE. The structure
now standing is essentially the 6th-century
edifice, although an earthquake caused a
partial collapse of the dome in 558 (restored
562)
AYASOFYA CAMII
After the Turkish conquest of Constantinople
in 1453, Mehmed II had it repurposed as
a mosque, with the addition of a
wooden minaret (on the exterior, a tower used
for the summons to prayer), a
great chandelier, a mihrab (niche indicating
the direction of Mecca), and a minbar(pulpit).
Either he or his son Bayezid IIerected the red
minaret that stands on the southeast corner of
the structure. The original wooden minaret did
not survive. Bayezid II erected the narrow
white minaret on the northeast side of the
mosque. The two identical minarets on the
western were likely commissioned by Selim
II or Murad III and built by renowned Ottoman
architect Sinan in the 1500s.
SANCTA SOPHIA
In 1934, Turkish President Kemal Atatürk
secularized the building, and in 1935 it was
made into a museum. In 1985 the Hagia
Sophia was designated a component of
a UNESCO World Heritage site called the
Historic Areas of Istanbul, which includes that
city’s other major historic buildings and
locations. Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdoğanmade
the controversial decision in 2020 to convert
the building back into a mosque. Islamic
prayers were held shortly after the
announcement with curtains partially
concealing the building’s Christian imagery.
As Turkey’s most popular tourist destination,
the Hagia Sophia remained open to visitors.
IS
MOSQUE OF
HAGIA SOPHIA
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
announced that the Hagia Sophia, one of the
architectural wonders of the world, would be
reopened for Muslim worship as a mosque,
sparking fury in the Christian community and
neighboring Greece. His declaration came after
a top Turkish court revoked the sixth-century
Byzantine monument's status as a museum,
clearing the way for it to be turned back into a
mosque. In an address to the nation, Erdogan
said the first Muslim prayers at the Hagia
Sophia would be performed on July 24, 2020,
assuring that it would open its door to all,
including non-Muslim. The doors of Hagia
Sophia will be wide open to locals and
foreigners, Muslims and non-Muslims. The
UNESCO World Heritage site in historic
Istanbul, a magnet for tourists worldwide, was
first constructed as a cathedral in the Christian
Byzantine Empire but was converted into a
mosque after the Ottoman conquest of
Constantinople in 1453. Last year, 3.8 million
tourists visited the monument. The Council of
State, of Turkey cancelled a 1934 cabinet
decision to turn it into a museum and said
Hagia Sophia was registered as a mosque in its
property deeds. The landmark ruling could
inflame tensions not just with the West and
Turkey's historic foe Greece but also Russia..
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 BYZANTINE
EMPIRE
A CHURCH or
A MOSQUE HAGIA
1 Hagia Sophia, Turkish
Ayasofya, Latin Sancta Sophia,
also called Church of the Holy SOPHIA
Wisdom or Church of the Divine
HAGIA SOPHIA Wisdom, an important Byzantine
structure in Istanbul and one of
the world’s great monuments. It

2
was built as a Christian church
in the 6th century CE (532–537)
under the direction of the
Byzantine emperor Justinian I.
AYASOFYA In subsequent centuries it
became a mosque, a museum,
and a mosque again. The
building reflects the religious

3 SANCTA
changes that have played out in
the region over the centuries,
with the minarets and
SOPHIA inscriptions of Islam as well as
the lavish mosaics of
Christianity.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
announced that the Hagia Sophia, one of the
architectural wonders of the world, would be
reopened for Muslim worship as a mosque,
sparking fury in the Christian community and
neighboring Greece

G8 HISTORY CLASS