Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia is a former Byzantine church and former Ottoman mosque in Istanbul. Hagia Sophia is formerly the great church for Christian in Istanbul, Turkey, but now Hagia Sophia is dedicated as a mosque in 1453 when Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mehmed II. Then, in 1935 Hagia Sophia dedicated as a museum in Istanbul, Turkey with the name "Ayasofya Museum". Hagia Sophia is beauty architectural and an important monument both for Byzantine and for Ottoman Empires.

The interior of Hagia Sophia was paneled with costly colored marbles and ornamental stone inlays. Decorative marble columns were taken from ancient buildings and reused to support the interior arcades. Initially, the upper part of the building was minimally decorated in gold with a huge cross in a medallion at the summit of the dome. After the period of Iconoclasm (726–843), new figural mosaics were added, some of which have survived to the present day.

Hagia Sophia became a model for many of the Ottoman mosques of Istanbul such as the Blue Mosque in front of the museum, the Suleiman Mosque, the Shehzade Mosque and the Rustem Pasha Mosque. As long as the mosque, all of the church's element are covered with whitewash. While the major structural of islamic element like a mihrab(prayer niche), minbar(pulpit), and minaret built around the perimeter of the building complex.

At the top of the museum there is a gallery where there are works of art depicting the teachings of Christianity. While below is the room full of Islamic art and also functioned as a mosque. Although it has been converted into a museum, religious activities of Muslims are still running. Repairement of the building makes this museum has an balance between islamic and christianity style.