Ayasofya was built on the site of Byzantium's acropolis by Emperor Justinian in 537 AD. It was the largest church ever built until St Peter's Basilica was constructed in Rome a thousand years later. Mehmet the Conqueror proclaimed it a mosque soon after his conquest of the city from the Byzantines in 1453.
Large numbers of columns were brought to Constantinople from temples in Asia Minor, the Lebanon, Greece and Italy, and the finest marbles and noblest metals were used. It is said that the total cost of the building was 360 hundredweight of gold and that 10,000 workmen were employed in its construction.
AyaSophia means the Church of the Divine Wisdom (Hagia Sophia in Greek) and not as many people think Santa Sophia.
The most interesting part of this building is at the mezzanine level: the splendid Byzantine mosaics.
It is really amazing to see the details and the expression of the faces when you know that these pics are make of mosaics.
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