Hagia Sophia
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Hagia Sophia, officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, is a mosque and a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. It was formerly a church and a museum. The last of three church buildi
Hagia Sophia in 2014
A Theodosian capital for a column, one of the few remains of the church of Theodosius II
A column and capital with a Greek cross
Porphyry column; column capital; impost block
Constantinople
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Constantinople, the modern Istanbul, was the capital of the Roman and Byzantine Empire from 330 until its takeover by the Ottoman Empire in 1453. After this, it continued to function as the Ottoman ca
Hagia Sophia
…architecture and is said to have "changed the history of architecture". From its dedication in 360 until 1453, Hagia Sophia served as the cathedral of Constantinople in the Byzantine liturgical tradition, except for the period 1204–1261 when the Latin Crusaders installed their own hierarchy. After the fall of…
Aerial view of Byzantine Constantinople and the Propontis (Sea of Marmara)
The Column of Constantine, built by Constantine I in 330 to commemorate the establishment of Constantinople as the new capital of the Roman Empire
The four bronze horses that were once in the Hippodrome of Constantinople are today put on display in Venice.
A simple cross: an example of iconoclast art in the Hagia Irene Church in Istanbul, which was secularized and today serves as a museum and concert hall.