Hagia Sophia facts
While investigating facts about Hagia Sophia Istanbul and Hagia Sophia History, I found out little known, but curios details like:
The Hagia Sophia has some odd scratches inside. For hundreds of years, their origin and purpose was unknown. It was later discovered that they are Futhark runes made by a Norseman far from home. A message, carved into the building he knew would never be destroyed. The message? “Hafdan was here.”
how hagia sophia was built?
When the Vikings made it to Constantinople during the 9th century AD, some of them carved their names in runic inscriptions inside Hagia Sophia - still visible to this day.
What's hagia sophia?
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what does hagia sophia mean. Here are 33 of the best facts about Hagia Sophia Tickets and Hagia Sophia Pronunciation I managed to collect.
who is buried at hagia sophia?
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During the 9th century AD, two Vikings graffitied their names in the runes of Hagia Sophia. These carvings have survived since the Byzantium era, and are still viewable in modern-day Istanbul.
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The last liturgy in the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople didn't happen in 1453; It happened after WW1 in 1919 when a brave Greek priest snuck inside the Church and completed a liturgy five centuries after the Fall of the City.
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On Jul 25, 2020 Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined thousands of people for the first Friday prayers at the Hagia Sophia in more than 80 years.
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A documentary filmmaker and his crew were given unique permission to go on a scuba diving expedition 800 feet beneath the Hagia Sophia, one of the largest and oldest cathedrals in the world
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When the church was turned into a mosque they removed the alter, the bells, iconostasis, as well as the sacrificial vessels.
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Some of the columns that were built in Hagia Sophia (a church in Istanbul, Turkey) are thought to have been originally part of the Temple of Artemis.
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Hagia Sophia was designed by a physicist, a mathematician and a scientist.
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Hagia Sophia is visible for miles across the Sea of Mamara.
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Hagia Sophia is the third Church of the Holy Wisdom to have been built on the site. The two that were built earlier were destroyed due to rioting.
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Because of the forty windows in Hagia Sophia it has become famous for the mystical light that reflects about the nave (the area where worshipers sit).
Why hagia sophia was built?
You can easily fact check why is hagia sophia considered the epitome of byzantine architecture by examining the linked well-known sources.
The weight of the dome of Hagia Sophia was so great that when it was placed on top of the walls they began to lean outward. The walls then had to be built up to support the dome.
When Sultan Mehmed II ordered the Cathedral to be turned into a mosque, many Christian mosaics were plastered over.
It has been said that Hagia Sophia is in such a state of disrepair it desperately needs work.
It was the first Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who turned the mosque into a museum in 1935.
When hagia sophia was built?
The dome of Hagia Sophia, with a diameter of 31 meters, is only slightly smaller than the one of the Pantheon in Rome.
How to pronounce hagia sophia?
There are stone cannonballs outside the entrance to Hagia Sophia. They are not simply stone statues. They were actually used by Mehmet the Conquerer in the 1453 battle to save the city (he was victorious).
Work on Hagia Sophia continues today, depending on funding and available resources.
Because Hagia Sophia lies on a fault line, there is a worry that it would only take one great tremor to bring the entire structure down.
Within a week before its conquest, Constantinople experienced a thick fog, a thunderstorm, the fiery reflection of volcanic ash on the Hagia Sophia, and a partial lunar eclipse.
Hagia Sophia and its design was an inspiration for other mosques such as the Blue Mosque of Istanbul and Sultan Ahmed Mosque.
