Istanbul, Turkey CNN — Whether you’re a believer or not, visiting Hagia Sophia is a spiritual experience. The architectural genius of this place of worship — which was built as a church in ...

mosaic-covered interior. When Justinian ordered the Hagia Sophia’s construction, Byzantium had officially separated from Rome to form its own, independent empire. As Constantinople broke with ...

It was Byzantine Emperor Justinian I who ordered the construction of Hagia Sophia (meaning “holy wisdom” in Greek). At the time, it was the largest interior space in the world. When the ...

"Hagia Sophia is simply unique ... "The glorious impression of harmoniously blended space and light we receive in the interior today should be supplemented in imagination by visualizing the ...