★ A former Byzantine church and a mosque,it is known as 'Hagia Sophia' in Greek, 'Saint Sophia' in Latin and 'Ayasofya' or 'Aya Sofya' in Turkish.
★ Hagia Sophia has a trail that dates back to 532-537 AD.
★ The monument is unique in its existence having a base of both Christianity and Islam.
★ Hagia Sophia remained the largest cathedral in the world for a span of thousand years.
★ In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and Sultan Mehmed II ordered the building to be converted into a mosque.
★ It remained the principal mosque of Istanbul until 1935, when it was converted into a museum by Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
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