While many go to the Ayasofya to take in its majesty, some go with the sole purpose of sticking their finger in the building’s “weeping column” in hopes that their prayer for healing or other such miracles might be heard.

Taken from the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus it now stands in the northern corner of the museum. Made of white marble with a bronze belt that circles the lower part of the column, a hole toward the base and the water which drops out of it are associated with …

The conquest of Constantinople by Sultan Mehmed II in 1453 CE saw the Hagia Sophia pillaged as the invaders believed it to contain the greatest treasures of the city, and became as a result the focal point of the siege. Unfortunately the church was being used as a refuge for those unable to contribute in the city’s defense, and congregants who had gone to the basilica to pray. Those not slaughtered as the invaders battered their way in, were enslaved and divided amongst the Ottomans.
Immediately after the conquest the Hagia …

The Hagia Sophia is actually the third of three churches that have been built since the first “Great Church” was inaugurated on February 15, 360 CE by Emperor Constantius II. The church was called this because it was larger than most of the contemporary churches in the city at the time, and acted in concert with the Hagia Eirene – “Holy Peace” – as the principal churches of the Byzantine Empire and was said to be one of the world’s most impressive monuments at the time.

However when the Constantinople patriarch …

More commonly known as the Blue Mosque due to the blue tiles that adorn its interior walls – over 21’000 of which were used – a keen eye might even notice the differences in the colours and arrangements, indicating the date and workshop they were manufactured in.
To heighten the sense of spaciousness felt inside, a total of 260 windows were cut, which also serve to create the illusion that the domes are suspended in air.

Constructed between 1609 and 1616 at the behest of Sultan Ahmet I, the Sultanahmet …

Constructed between 532 and 537 CE by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, the Hagia Sophia – from the Greek meaning “Church of the Holy Wisdom of God” – for over 900 years served as the Orthodox basilica for the Greek Patriarchal of Constantinople, and the religious focal point of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
And for that time it was the largest cathedral in the world.

Famous for its massive dome, some consider it to be the epitome of Byzantine architecture, even to have changed the history of architecture itself, and despite the …