Hagia Sophia (/ˈhɑːɡiə soʊˈfiːə/; from the Greek: ΑγίαΣοφία, pronounced [aˈʝia soˈfia], "Holy

Wisdom"; Latin: Sancta Sophia or Sancta Sapientia; Turkish: Ayasofya) was a Greek
Orthodox Christian patriarchal basilica (church), later an imperial mosque, and is now a museum
(Ayasofya Müzesi) in Istanbul, Turkey. From the date of its construction in 537 AD, and until 1453,
it served as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral and seat of the Patriarch of Constantinople, except
between 1204 and 1261, when it was converted by the Fourth Crusaders to a Roman
Catholiccathedral under the Latin Empire. The building was later converted into an Ottoman
mosque from 29 May 1453 until 1931. It was then secularized and opened as a museum on 1
February 1935. Famous in particular for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine
architecture and is said to have "changed the history of architecture". It remained the world's
largest cathedral for nearly a thousand years, until Seville Cathedral was completed in 1520.

The current buildingwas originally constructed as a church between 532 and 537 on the orders of
the Byzantine EmperorJustinian I and was the third Church of the Holy Wisdom to occupy the site,
the prior one having been destroyed by rioters in the Nika Revolt. It was designed by
the Greekgeometers Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles. The church was dedicated to
the Wisdom of God, the Logos, the second personof the Trinity, its patronal feast takingplace on
25 December, the commemoration of the birth of the incarnation of the Logos in Christ. Although
sometimes referred to as Sancta Sophia (as though it were named after Sophia the
Martyr), sophia beingthe phonetic spellingin Latin of the Greek word for wisdom, its full name in
Greek is Ναός της Αγίας του Θεού Σοφίας, Naos tēs Hagias tou Theou Sophias, "Shrine of the Holy
Wisdom of God". The church contained a large collection of relics and featured, among other
things, a 15-metre (49 ft) silver iconostasis.[citation needed] The focal point of the Eastern
Orthodox Church for nearly one thousand years, the buildingwitnessed the excommunication of
Patriarch Michael I Cerularius on the part of Humbert of Silva Candida, the papal envoy of Pope
Leo IX in 1054, an act that is commonly considered the start of the East–West Schism.

In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Empire under Mehmed the Conqueror,
who ordered this main church of Orthodox Christianity converted into a mosque. Although some
parts of the city of Constantinople were fallinginto disrepair, the cathedral was maintained with
an amount of money set aside for this purpose. Nevertheless, the Christian cathedral made a strong
impression on the new Ottoman rulers and they decided to convert it into a mosque. The bells,
altar, iconostasis, and other relics were destroyed and the mosaicsdepicting Jesus, his Mother
Mary, Christian saints, and angels were also destroyed or plastered over. Islamic features—such
as the mihrab, minbar, and four minarets—were added. It remained a mosque until 1931 when it
was closed to the public for four years. It was re-opened in 1935 as a museum by the Republic
of Turkey. Hagia Sophia was, as of 2014, the second-most visited museum in Turkey, attracting
almost 3.3 million visitors annually. Accordingto data released by the Turkish Culture and Tourism
Ministry, Hagia Sophia was Turkey's most visited tourist attraction in 2015.

From its initial conversion until the construction of the nearby Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque
of Istanbul) in 1616, it was the principal mosque of Istanbul. The Byzantine architecture of the
Hagia Sophia served as inspiration for many other Ottoman mosques, such as the aforementioned
mosque, the Şehzade Mosque, the Süleymaniye Mosque, the Rüstem Pasha Mosque and the Kılıç
Ali Pasha Complex