Hagia Sophia Museum is one of the world’s leading monuments in terms of history of art and architecture and is shown as the 8th wonder of the world. Hagia Sophia, which was a church, then a mosque and a museum in history, was the largest church that the Eastern Roman Empire had built in Istanbul.
The building was built three times in the same place. Today’s Hagia Sophia is the last building built with a different architectural understanding.
This building was built by Emperor Justinianos to Anthemios of Tralles (Aydin) and Isidoros of Miletos (Balat), the two important architects of the period. Hagia Sophia, which was a church for 916 years, was converted into a mosque by Fatih Sultan Mehmet in 1453 and was used as a mosque for 482 years.
Upon the order of Atatürk, Hagia Sophia opened its doors as a museum in 1935. Columns and marbles used in Hagia Sophia were brought from the ancient city ruins in Anatolia and Syria, such as Aspendos, Ephesos, Baalbek, Tarsus.
The white marbles in the building were brought from Marmara Island, pink marbles from Afyon and yellow marbles from North Africa and used in Hagia Sophia.Most of the walls on the outer surface of Hagia Sophia are covered with marble. Other areas are decorated with beautiful mosaics. Gold, silver, glass, terracotta and colored stones were used to make the mosaics.
In the outer space and garden of the Hagia Sophia Museum, you can visit the tombs of the Ottoman sultans, the School of Sıbyan, Şadırvan, Muvakkithane, Sabillar, Minarets, buttresses, Treasury Building and Imarethane.
In the interior, a magnificent dome, mosaics, calligraphy plates, tiles, mihrab, pulpit, doner and muezzin ruins, omphalion, Sultan Mahmud I Library, Maksureler, marble cubes, wish column, commander henricus dandolo’s tombstone, viking inscription and you can see the Hagia Sophia Gates.
You can visit the audio guide service in 12 languages, which is located in Sultanahmet and which is open to visitors every day.
Entrance Fee: 100 TL
Summer Period (01 April-31 October): 09:00-19:00
Winter Period (01 November-31 March): 09:00-18:00
- Monday is closed.
