Hagia Sofia

Our favorite site in Istanbul was definitely Hagia Sofia. (pronounced aya sofia) This was the largest church in the world for nearly 1,ooo years. It was originally built as an Orthodox cathedral and was converted to a mosque in the 1400s. Now it has been turned into a museum. It's pretty incredible. We read that the statue of liberty can fit inside the cathedral under the dome (minus the torch). It's great - the building is so incredibly huge that you're not bothered by the 100s of other people who are also there.

Here it is from the outside:


This is Ian in front of the Emperor's door. This gives you a little perspective on how huge it is!


Inside they've been able to recover a lot of the original mosaics. When the church was converted to a mosque, they covered all of the mosaics. (in mosques they never show pictures of humans) These mosaics are made by tiny squares - it's pretty incredible. What I like best about them, though, is that not only do they depict Jesus and Mary, but often times someone else is there as well. I guess if you're the one commissioning the church you can request whatever you want. In this mosaic the emperor and his wife are giving Jesus gifts.