According to legend, after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, three Venetian ships fled the city filled with various relics to avoid their capture by the Turks, but the third which ...
Turkey's Hagia Sophia will open to visitors outside prayer times and its Christian icons will remain, religious officials said on Tuesday, after a court ruling paved the way for it to become a mosque.
"The swimming and spa centre near the Hagia Sophia mosque... was sealed off by teams from the Fatih municipality in line with a decision by its preservation committee," a municipal official told AFP.
Sultan Ahmed I was determined to build a mosque that rivaled the nearby Hagia Sophia, and most would agree ... mosque offers stunning architecture inside and out. It can, however, get busy ...