Hagia Sophia

About Hagia Sophia

Byzantine monument in Trabzon, Turkey

Hagia Sophia of Trabzon, "the Holy Wisdom", is the city's top sight and one of the finest surviving examples of late Byzantine architecture. It was built as a church and monastery in the 1250s, when Trabzon was the capital of the Greek Empire of Trebizond, on a rise near the Black Sea shore about two miles west of the medieval town; the free-standing bell tower was added in 1427, and nothing remains of the monastery buildings. After Mehmed II's conquest of the city in 1461 the church was converted into a mosque; it became a museum in 1964 and returned to use as a mosque in 2013, when some pre-Islamic features were covered, most of them uncovered again in 2020. The building is distinguished by its tall dome over a square core and three porches, its beautiful, brightly coloured Byzantine frescoes, its arches and the carved stone frieze on the south porch depicting the story of Adam and Eve, together with imperial eagle emblems; a garden overlooking the sea surrounds it. Today Hagia Sophia combines its role as a working mosque with its value as a monument of world importance that welcomes visitors of all faiths, and it is the first stop for anyone visiting Trabzon.

Where:

Trabzon, Türkiye