TP13: The Mystical Hagia Sophia aka Aya Sofya

Hagia Sophia or Aya Sofya in Turkish was one of the places or rather prominent buildings in our itinerary. However, we did not visit the interior merely due to time constraint and it is just another Museum though, which does not really fascinate me. We just went around the exterior of the building and I must say the architecture was amazing.
Aya Sofya is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a Masjid, now a museum in Istanbul, famous in particular for its massive dome. It is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and to have "changed the history of architecture." It was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years, until the completion of the Seville Cathedral in 1520. Designed by Isidore of Miletus, a physicist, and Anthemius of Tralles, a mathematician, under the order of Byzantine Emperor Justinian, the current building was originally constructed as a church between 532 and 537 A.D. It was in fact the third Church of the Holy Wisdom to occupy the site.
In 1453, the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople and Sultan Mehmed II ordered the immediate cleanup and the building to be converted into a Masjid. The next sultan Bayezid II built a new minaret, replacing the one built by his father. The bells, altar, iconostasis, and sacrificial vessels were removed, and many of the mosaics were eventually plastered over. The Islamic features — such as the altar or mihrab, the pulpit or minbar, and the four minarets (two were built by the great Ottoman architect Mirmar Sinan, who is considered one of the world’s first earthquake engineers) outside — were added over the course of its history under the Ottomans.
In the 16th century the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1520–1566) brought back two colossal candles from his conquest of Hungary. They were placed on both sides of the mihrab. During the reign of Selim II (1566–1577), the building started showing signs of fatigue and was extensively strengthened with the addition of structural supports to its exterior by the great Ottoman architect Mirmar Sinan, who is also considered one of the world's first earthquake engineers.

It remained as a mosque until 1935, when the first Turkish President and founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, transformed the building into a museum. The carpets were removed and the marble floor decorations appeared for the first time in centuries, while expert restorers painstakingly removed the white plaster covering many of the mosaics.

For almost 500 years the principal Masjid of Istanbul, Hagia Sophia served as a model for many of the Ottoman Masjid such as the Sultan Ahmed Masjid (Blue Mosque of Istanbul), the Şehzade Masjid, the Süleymaniye Masjid, the Rüstem Pasha Masjid, and the Kılıç Ali Paşa Masjid.