The Hagia Sophia remains a highly popular tourist destination, attracting millions of travelers. Here is a detailed look at this ancient UNESCO World Heritage Site in Istanbul, Turkey.

Turkey is located near two fault lines, leaving the 1,500-year-old structure vulnerable to damage. Architects and engineers will be investigating how to best preserve it ...

Interior of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. Photo: Shutterstock. Some of these subterranean spaces are as ancient as the mosque itself, having been constructed between 523 and 537 C.E.

Hagia Sophia saw 7.7 million visitors stream through its spacious interior last year. Visitors take photographs of Byzantine mosaics in the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in Istanbul on April 14, 2025 ...

Hagia Sophia was built as a church over a Roman temple, and was subsequently converted into a mosque and then a museum. Since 2020 it is used as a mosque once more.

Hagia Sophia saw 7.7 million visitors stream through its spacious interior last year. Around 2.1 million of them are foreign tourists, many of whom pay 25 euros for an entry ticket, generating ...

Hagia Sophia has survived fire, riots, earthquakes, bombardment and looting by both Christian and Muslim armies in its long life. Its interior decoration has been hacked away by iconoclastic ...

Hagia Sophia was built as a church over a Roman temple, and was subsequently converted into a mosque and then a museum. Since 2020 it is used as a mosque once more.

The current Hagia Sophia was built in the 6th century when Constantinople — as Istanbul was then called — was the heart of the Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire that emerged as Ancient Rome ...