Full of myths and a lot of culture, this is a brand image of the city of Istanbul. How well do you know her? Neither historians know what is real and what is invented.
The present Hagia Sophia was built in the 6th century, when Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) was the heart of the Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire. It was built as a church, and only in 1453 it became a mosque.
It was known as the “great church”, and it was inaugurated by the son of Constantine, Constantius II, in 360 DCcounts a. Constantine was the Roman emperor who became Christianity and transferred the center of the Roman Empire to Constantinople – it was the beginning of the Byzantine Empire.
Hagia Sophia’s construction price was considered astronomical. According to historical documents, it will have cost 1.14 billion euros To be done, but some say it was even more expensive. If this value is true, this construction uses the cost of Notre Dame in Paris, which cost 880 million euros to be done.
During the Byzantine period, Hagia Sophia, who is Greek for “sacred wisdom”, became the center of orthodox Christianity and the last symbol of the empire. It was only during the Ottoman Empire that the monument was converted into a mosque.
Hagia Sophia resisted many revolutions, occupations, riots, piles and even natural disastersand there are even those who say that its construction in a solid rock has allowed it to survive several earthquakes that Istanbul has suffered over time.
It has been the scene of several legends and myths, and has become a symbol of the city of Istanbul. One of these stories, for example, says that an earthquake cracked the summit in the year 500, and to repair it had to use a mixture made from the saliva of a young prophet, mixed with “holy” water Zamzam and Earth of Mecca.
“These legends and myths around Hagia Sophia connect people to her; They reinforce the perception that this is your mosque, your temple, ”researcher Hasan Mert Kaya tells CNN.
However, with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the monument was rehabilitated and converted into a museum in 1935.
In a controversial extent imposed by President Tayyip Erdogan in 2020, it was still again, it is possible to continue to visit Hagia Sophia, even if not Muslim – and even watch the prayer. A unique moment, in one of the places with the most history of all over Turkey.
