Look Into The Region

Hagia Sofia, (The Church of the Divine Wisdom-Sancta Sophia in Latin & Aya Sofya in Turkish), is located in Istanbul, Turkey. It was commissioned in 532 AD by Emperor Justinian as another effort to restore the greatness of the Roman Empire. Legend has it the emperor couldn't help exclaim, "Solomon, I've outdone thee" upon seeing the magnificence of the completed structure in 548 AD. The basilica reigned as the greatest church in Christendom until the conquest of the city by the Ottomans in 1453. It was immediately converted into a mosque and remained one until Ataturk in 1935 proclaimed it a museum. Istanbul located on both sides of the Bosporus (separating the European and Asian parts of the city) was first called Byzantium by the Greeks in honor of the mythical Byzas who founded the city (circa 9th c. BC). It was later renamed Constantinople by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great who moved the capital here in 330 AD. Following the Turkish conquest, Mehmet II changed the name to Istanbul. The legendary city has enjoyed a renaissance as "capital of the East" over the past few decades.