Completed in 537 AD, the Hagia Sophia is a masterclass in endurance. Originally commissioned as a Greek Orthodox cathedral by Emperor Justinian I, it was intended to be a physical manifestation of the divine. When the Ottomans took the city in 1453, Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror was so moved by its scale that he immediately preserved it, converting it into a mosque.
Completed in 537 AD, the Hagia Sophia is a masterclass in endurance. Originally commissioned as a Greek Orthodox cathedral by Emperor Justinian I, it was intended to be a physical manifestation of the divine. When the Ottomans took the city in 1453, Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror was so moved by its scale that he immediately preserved it, converting it into a mosque.
