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Hagia Sophia

AH-yah so-FEE-ah, also HAY-jee-uh so-FEE-uh
Also Known As Ayasofya
Religious and Sacred Buildings
Domed Sanctuary and Four Minarets

The great church of Constantinople, built for Justinian in only five years and dedicated in 537, its shallow central dome carried on pendentives over a vast open interior that stunned its own age and every one since. Cathedral for nine centuries, mosque for nearly five, museum and then mosque again, it is the supreme monument of Byzantine architecture.

Facts
Building Type
Basilica and Mosque 2
Location
Istanbul, Turkey 2
Completed Year
537 2
Height (m)Sourced to the subject's own account
55 3
Classification
Standing StatusSourced to the subject's own account
Standing 1
Building Type
Building Type (category)
Mosque 2
Connections

Associated With

Has Building Type

Mosque, Concepts

Entity-backed identity for the building-type enum value this building already carries, resolved to an architecture concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The building-type fact itself stays on the building unchanged.

In Style

Source Hagia Sophia (Wikipedia)

Uses Element

Source Encyclopedia Britannica

Its columns and lower walls are faced in colored marble and marble revetment quarried across the empire.

The building in which the pendentive was perfected.

Source Encyclopedia Britannica
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Hagia Sophia (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Entity description and the lead of the Wikipedia article
    The great church of Constantinople, built for Justinian in only five years and dedicated in 537, its shallow central dome carried on pendentives over a vast open interior that stunned its own age and every one since. Cathedral for nine centuries, mosque for nearly five, museum and then mosque again, it is the supreme monument of Byzantine architecture.
  • In Style: Byzantine Architecture, Introduction
    It is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to have "changed the history of architecture".
View the Source
2. Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
  • britannica.com/topic/Hagia-Sophia, lead definition
    Hagia Sophia, an important Byzantine structure in Istanbul and one of the world's great monuments. It was built as an Eastern Orthodox church between 532 and 537 ce under the direction of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. In subsequent centuries it became a Roman Catholic cathedral, an Eastern Orthodox church again, a mosque, a museum, and a mosque again. The building reflects the religious changes that have played out in the region over the centuries, with the minarets and inscriptions of Islam as well as the lavish mosaics of Christianity.
  • Uses Element: Dome
  • Uses Element: Pendentive
View the Source
3. Hagia Sophia (Wikidata)
Wikimedia FoundationWikidata height (P2048) statement: 55.0
Quote, Wikidata height (P2048) statement: 55.0
Wikidata item Q12506, property P2048 (height): 55.0 m (converted to metres, preferred/normal rank, non-deprecated)
View the Source
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