Aya Sofya Travel Guide
One of the World’s Architectural Masterpieces
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Completed in 537 the Aya Sofya or ‘Church of the Holy Wisdom’ is today rightly one of the country’s principle draws. Its impressive interior space is surmounted by a vast dome, below which windows pierce the walls giving the effect that the dome itself floats above the space below. Regarded as the best example of Byzantine construction today the Aya Sofya is a museum and forms part of the Sultanahmet UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Byzantium, the name given to today’s Istanbul between approx. 660BC and 1453, had many great buildings, but none ever competed with the masterpiece that is the Aya Sofya. Today’s building, completed in 537, occupies the space of a timber-roofed Roman basilica almost completely destroyed by fire in 532. Commissioned by the emperor Justinian I it is clear that the architects were given free reign to let their imaginations run wild: they did so designing what many consider to be the world’s most significant religious building. The dome rises some 56m above the floor, seemingly supported on a ring of light, an effect given by the windows that pierce the stonework on which the dome rests. The architectural techniques that can be seen in getting a round dome to sit on a square base by the use of pendentives are some of the first examples of their kind.
The cathedral was raided by the Crusaders in 1204 when this grand dame was already over 650 years old, but it was the fall of the Byzantines and rise of the Ottoman Turks in 1453 that saw the cathedral converted into a mosque and the minarets we see today added. In the mid-nineteenth century a series of restorations were undertaken with the now-famous mosaics being uncovered from the paint applied when the Ottoman’s converted the building. The now secular Turkish state took over the Aya Sofya in the 1930’s and opened it as a museum in 1935 and further restoration has continued ever since. This work has helped preserve the grandeur of the building and contributed towards its recognition in 1985 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Relaxing
There are several tea gardens at the side of the Aya Sofya for a chance to rest, enjoy a glass of chai and admire the stature of the city’s most impressive museum.
Getting Around
The Aya Sofya is located in Sultanahmet, opposite the famous Blue Mosque and is easily reached on foot from any of the main sights in this historic area.
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