ISTANBUL (RNS) — Hundreds of worshippers filled the narrow streets of Istanbul’s Fatih district on Friday to hear the sounds ...

Hagia Sophia's complex history began almost 1,500 years ago, when Byzantine emperor Justinian built the huge church in the year 537. In 1453, in a devastating blow to the Byzantines, Ottoman ...

Once the biggest cathedral in the world, the Hagia Sophia is considered the magnum opus of Byzantine architecture. Visitors say it is a must-see when in Istanbul and recommend taking a guided tour ...

Built 1,500 years ago as an Orthodox Christian cathedral, Hagia Sophia ... change is coming to Hagia Sophia, which has endured since the 6th century, outlasting the Byzantine empire and the ...

The preservation of Byzantine mosaics in Istanbul ... Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion said. Hagia Sophia is the former Greek Orthodox Christian ...

Built in the 530s in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire ... The transformation of the Greek Hagia Sophia Cathedral into the Turkish Ayasofya Mosque did not take place gently.

Hagia Sophia was not exempt. Pillagers made their way to the ... Another victim of Turkey’s intolerance of churches, the Agios Theodoros Byzantine Church in Istanbul, was first converted into a mosque ...

A magnet for tourists worldwide, the Hagia Sophia was first constructed 1,500 years ago as a cathedral in the Christian Byzantine Empire and it was there they crowned their emperors. It was ...

The Hagia Sophia cathedral in Istanbul is an example of Byzantine architecture built in 532-537 on the orders of the emperor Justinian. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire the cathedral was ...

Hagia Sophia was a cathedral for nearly 1,000 years before being converted into a mosque in 1453 and a museum in 1935. Diyanet said in a statement on Tuesday that the Christian icons in Hagia ...

The Monreale Cathedral, erected in 1174–89 near Palermo on the orders of King William II, is a UNESCO World Heritage site that combines Western, Islamic and Byzantine styles and is home to one ...

Not far from the Blue Mosque is the equally impressive Hagia Sophia. Originally built as a church where rulers of ... the most important monuments of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires.