Kamal Anwar
View from Ayasofya (Haghia Sophia) towards the Sultanahmet Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey
This photo was taken from the Haghia Sophia (Ayasofya in Turkish) looking out of a window towards the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (better known as the Blue Mosque).
Haghia Sophia was once a church (Orthodox patriarchal basilica), later a mosque and is now officially designated as a museum.
It was originally built as a church between 532 and 537 A.D. during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. For nearly 1000 years, it stood as the largest cathedral in the world until the completion of the Seville Cathedral in 1520.
When the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453, Sultan Mehmet II ordered the conversion of the church into a mosque. Many Islamic features such as the minarets were added over the course of time. In 1935, when Turkey became a republic, the mosque became a museum.
View from Ayasofya (Haghia Sophia) towards the Sultanahmet Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey
This photo was taken from the Haghia Sophia (Ayasofya in Turkish) looking out of a window towards the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (better known as the Blue Mosque).
Haghia Sophia was once a church (Orthodox patriarchal basilica), later a mosque and is now officially designated as a museum.
It was originally built as a church between 532 and 537 A.D. during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. For nearly 1000 years, it stood as the largest cathedral in the world until the completion of the Seville Cathedral in 1520.
When the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453, Sultan Mehmet II ordered the conversion of the church into a mosque. Many Islamic features such as the minarets were added over the course of time. In 1935, when Turkey became a republic, the mosque became a museum.