Hagia Sophia

In the centre of Istanbul you will find a mosque which looks a bit different - it is the Aya Sofia Mosque. The reason it looks a bit different is it was not really constructed to be a mosque. It predates the time of the Ottoman conquerors by several centuries - and it used to serve as the main church of the Byzantine Empire.

The first church built at the spot of the current Aya Sofia were built in 360 shortly after Constantin the Great had transformed the Roman empire into a Christian empire. Then you needed a church in the capital city of the eastern Roman Empire and you built the first church. Later this church was replaced by another church and in 532 a third church which is the present day Aya Sofia.

This church served as the main church of Constantinople until the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453. After the fall of the last Christian bastion in this part of the world the old church were converted into a mosque. And the Aya Sofia has served as one of the main mosque of Constantinople and Istanbul ever since this.

Today you can go a visit the mosque and see a small museum with exhibitions.

We visited the Hagia Sophia right after the Blue Mosque, and to be honest it was a little bit of a let down, especially given the entrance fee (which I believe was around 20YTL, and has probably even increased by now).

While the scale of the building once you are inside is quite impressive, it doesn't quite blow you away with its magnificence. It's rather plainly adorned, and while we were there there was lots of scaffolding from construction everywhere, which didn't add to the allure.

In the upstairs area there was a gallery that, inexplicably, showed pictures of the inside of the Hagia Sophia. Also, instead of the original mural or painting, they would just show a picture of the mural or painting.

If you are on a budget, or not a history buff, I would just recommend walking around on the outside of the Hagia Sophia, and exploring the inside of the Blue Mosque, which is nearby and free.