Hagia Sophia Square, Istanbul, Turkey
Daily: 9.00am - 5.00pm (winter) or 7.00pm (summer)
To make things merrier, I shall post on some of the places I went to during my first visit to the country. Pardon the quality of most of the photos as they were taken with my old camera phone. Hagia Sophia is one of the prides of the city, showcasing elements of Islam and Christianity in one building.
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| Does it look nicer without clouds hovering above it? |
Instead of buying a ticket, I got myself the handy 72-hour Istanbul Museum Pass for ₺85.00 (~S$26.80). However, they've since done away with the 72-hour pass and the only one available now is the 120-hour pass for ₺125.00 (~S$39.45). Anyway, the entrance fee to Hagia Sophia is ₺40.00 (~S$12.60) at the point of writing.
Let's take a look at the grounds before entering the museum.
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| An audio guide can be rented for ₺20.00 (~S$6.30) in the past. I'm not sure how much it costs now. |
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| Queueing lambs! xD |
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| Some nice flowers still blooming in June~ |
Along the antechamber, there are pictures showing the architecture of the building, which was formerly a Greek Orthodox Christian patriarchal basilica and then converted to an Ottoman imperial mosque.
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| It's a stone coffin labelled "Sarcophagus of the Empress". |
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| Check out what's on offer at the gift shop! :D |
The building was secularised and then opened as a museum on 1 February 1935. It's certainly one of the greatest examples of Byzantine architecture that survives till date.
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| Above the entrance to the main hall is a mosaic depicting Jesus Christ and an emperor. |
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| There was a bit of renovation going on a few years ago. |
It was the main mosque of Istanbul until the completion of the renowned Sultanahmet Mosque, or Blue Mosque, in 1616.
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| Lovely, intricate Arabic writings~ |
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| Can you see the face of the six-winged angel? |
A significant annex to the structure is a library built under the order of Sultan Mahmud I in 1739. Unfortunately, it's off-limits to visitors.
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| The bronze grid design features the convolution of branches and flowers. <3 |
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| Spot the oddity! |
The walkway to the upper gallery has a dungeon-like feel.
The upper gallery is laid out in a horseshoe shape with more Christian mosaics.
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| It's believed that one side of the marble door represents heaven and the other represents hell. |
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| Pretty well-preserved, eh? :) |
The view of the main hall from the upper gallery is amazing.
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| The only word that I can read is الله, which is transliterated to Allah (lit. God). |
I also took the opportunity to look outside through two openings.
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| Sultanahmet Mosque spotted! |
Satisfied with what I'd seen, I went down to explore a bit more before leaving the museum.
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| In Byzantine art, Virgin Mary is always depicted in a dark blue gown. |
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| That's one fanciful fountain used for ritual ablutions in the past. |
According to statistics released by the Culture and Tourism Ministry of Turkey, Hagia Sophia is the most visited tourist attraction almost annually.
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