Hagia Sophia

Often erroneously called the church of St. Sophia by tour guides and websites, the Church of the Holy Wisdom was built in the late 6th century and still stands imperiously on the tip of the Golden Horn. When Sultan Mehmet conquered Constantinople in 1453, the Hagia Sophia was converted to a mosque (that's where the minarets came from). In the early 1900s, Ataturk, as part of his plan to modernize Turkey, converted it to a museum showing the history of the Christian Byzantines and the Muslim Ottomans.

It is huge. There is no other way to describe it as you walk inside - gigantic medallions with Arabic lettering hang from colossal pillars, and early Christian mosaics glitter on in the archways. There are lots of tourists, but it's ok; there is plenty of room. One quarter of the main dome is under restoration, but most of the rest of the building is viewable.

Once an iconic part of the Christian church, it is perhaps a little ironic that it has since become the architectural model for mosques around Istanbul. The domes of the Blue Mosque serve as a good example of the Hagia Sophia's influence (see right).

It was interesting to finally see Christ depicted in the Hagia Sophia. In a city that seems to be somewhere between secular and Muslim, seeing the image of the Savior (in the Greek, called Pantokrator) was strangely refreshing and relieving.