Santa Sofía Reviews

Visiting this place makes you realize how short we're here on this planet yet how long that is. It has a special kind of energy that only a place of this magnitude and importance can have. The ticket was 60 Turkish Lyra on 14.10.18 and it is worth every penny.

If you can, try to read all your Salah in this masjid

Very spiritual.. loved the decoration and everything

Amazingly beautiful architecture and mosaics preserved to this day. I bought tickets online which allowed me to skip the queue and have a smooth visit. Some parts were under repair but it was clear how grand and spectacular this place is.

Historic place. Will definitely leave you impressed, if not stunned!

Nice tour. It costs 60TL for entrance, and there is a package for 80TL that includes Archeological Museum visit.

Entry ticket costs 72 TL per person . Kids under 6 years enter for free.Please note that you will need around 1 hour to explore the place and take pictures. Don't miss the second floor view

Amazing place!
I loved every corner of this museum!
Huge and magnificent old building with amazing wall paintings and a place with a great history of course.
Hagia Sophia Museum is a must see when you come in Istanbul.
For sure I will visit it again when I come there!

The museum is beautiful it has a lot of information about the Historical time of Istanbul. It is also in a very touristic area, where the blue mosque is nearby

Fantastic museum. Recommended to use a guide to get the full experience

Very intersting and you really can feel the history passing by.

The museum is great. There isn't much to do. However it is amazing and mind blowing that this place has been a church and mosque for centuries!!!

Very impressive. The ticket price has increased to 40 TL. The museum is currently under renovation.

The interior holds a mixture of works inspired by two Faiths; which is currently represented in a form of a museum.

Originally a classic Byzantine built Architecture and its ingenuity speaks for itself. Later on becoming inspired by the Ottoman Empire.

What I particularly found rather beautiful is that it held an atmosphere which gave out an aroma of travelling back in time!

What has helped to create this is the mixture of the Faiths that occupied this building, as aforementioned and the current restoration work in progress.

The rawness was present, and the historical pictogram, pictures and mosaics really is rather educational.

You could easily spend a good few hours there, and a museum pass is certainly recommended! Especially If you have family with you.

Nice, but tickets are expensive for what's there, especially with construction onsite

One of the greatest most famous places to visit in Istanbul. I visited it twice and still would visit it again if I visited Istanbul again. It's better if you read about the place first or visit it with a tour guide to explain everything thing and how the place changed from a church to a mosque and then a museum.

This building is unique .. a great place for peace and merging of cultures
Half the building is Muslim and the other is Christian
What a great place
Great halls and architecture inside
Drawings were amazing
Very organized
You can buy a ticket in the gate
This place is highly recommended and a must-visit tourist attraction in Istanbul

What an amazing place. Huge and saturated in history. Recommended for anyone coming to Istanbul. Queues were not too long and the pictures you can take are absolutely phenomenal.

A remarcable monument which combines efforts and tensions of 2 great religions...

Great historical icon- the pivot between Christianity and Islam in Turkey. For those not in the know but history fans, is worth purchasing the audio guide :)

Eyegasm to architecture enthusiasm. Recommended to buy Museum Pass 125 Lira to avoid long queue and I'm serious

One of the most beautiful historical places to visit

One of the most magnificent and historic place to visit in Istanbul. Interesting to know (con)fusion of multiple religions in such a small place. Not many places you will find Jesus Christ photo with Verses of Quaran in Arabic. Highly recommended.

Note: Please visit in early hours to avoid long queues.

Very pretty museum with unique lights hanging all over it. The exterior of the building was extremely gorgeous as well.

A fair bit is under renovation, but still worth a visit

It has such deep history and mosaics are beautiful.

What a beautiful experience perfect amalgamation of east and west

Church turned into mosque turned into Museum!! so much too see if you know what to look for. Amazing place.

Architecturally masterwork, homage to the two mathematicians...who designed the beautiful masterpiece...

beautiful place thanks for sharing it to the public. it's interesting how wer are All connected in this history

Its a symbolic museum else nothig lies inside except the history and its ruins. It was actually a church which was converted in to a mosque but probably after 1934 it was once again turned into a museum.

An amazing amulgamation of cultures and religions. The art in this place is amazing. The history encapsulated within it's walls leaves one in awe. However, it is not wheelchair friendly and would not recommend for those who have arthritis either as the way up is quite a hike and is cobbled.

Boring. Stupid.
40 liras for what?!

I really wonder inside of under constraction areas, always closed

What can I say. Awe inspiring. Shame the renovations and repairs are still ongoing but I guess that's what had to happen.

One of the most famous buildings built long time ago in 537 and it is real miracle that it survived collapse of whole empire and all human and natural disasters through the centuries. It was main church of the mighty Eastern Roman Empire and after its collapse it was converted to mosque (as in Spain it was conversion from mosque to church in the same century). It was finally designated as museum and for me it is the symbol of Constantinople/Istanbul. In my Croatian language this city was always called City of emperors (Carigrad) and through the centuries we always feared what ever was coming from there from the time of Byzantium to the mighty and horrible Ottoman Empire. Architecture is fantastic and I can hardly beleive that it was possible to build something like this so long time ago. It was largest cathedral until cathedral in Seville was built in 1520 and it was interesting that from 1204 to 1261 it was Roman Catholic cathedral after crusaders conquered city for Venice. By this empire was critically weakened and Ottoman victory was inevitable which had major influence on the world history and Ottoman empire was major player in Europe.

At this time the museum is still under renovation, but still good for visit and learn new history

I was kind of disappointed in this as I thought it was going to be more breathtaking but from outside it looks like it's wash out (the walls). From the inside is also not very.well.maintained, they are conducting renovations but it looks like throughout the years no one cared much about it. The mosaics (what's left of them) are pretty and there is an overall atmosphere of renovation, like it shouldn't be open to the public. The visit is very short, like 30 minutes as there isn't much to see inside. Plus the lines to get in and buy the tickets can be excruciating. We went there at 9am one day and it was ok, a different day we passed by at 5:30pm and it was also not busy.

Beautiful Church later Converted to Mosque. Full of History. Some parts are under renovation.

A very impressive building, that was initially a Christian place of worship, even the largest of it's kind when it was built. At a later stage it was converted to a mosque, and the Christian decorations were covered - not removed - with Muslim decorations. Currently there is a restoration underway, where the original decorations are being uncovered and the mix of different cultures and beliefs is quite a sight to see.

A lovely place. A gem of history. Try to go early to enjoy it on your own.

Mind boggling, especially once you learn more of the history and it's significance.

It's a magnificent and spiritual mosque.
Visit is for free.
I can highly recommend it!

How did they build it hundreds of years ago .. i liked the ancient valkerian carvings

great experience but doesn't justify the queues. best to buy a museum pass and bypass this queue

Hagia Sophia, Turkish Ayasofya, Latin Sancta Sophia, also called Church of the Holy Wisdom or Church of the Divine Wisdom, cathedral built at Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) in the 6th century CE (532 537) under the direction of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. By general consensus, it is the most important Byzantine structure and one of the world s great monuments.

The Hagia Sophia was built in the remarkably short time of about six years, being completed in 537 CE. Unusual for the period in which it was built, the names of the building s architects Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus are well known, as is their familiarity with mechanics and mathematics. The Hagia Sophia combines a longitudinal basilica and a centralized building in a wholly original manner, with a huge 32-metre (105-foot) main dome supported on pendentives and two semidomes, one on either side of the longitudinal axis. In plan the building is almost square. There are three aisles separated by columns with galleries above and great marble piers rising up to support the dome. The walls above the galleries and the base of the dome are pierced by windows, which in the glare of daylight obscure the supports and give the impression that the canopy floats on air.

The original church on the site of the Hagia Sophia is said to have been ordered to be built by Constantine I in 325 on the foundations of a pagan temple. His son, Constantius II, consecrated it in 360. It was damaged in 404 by a fire that erupted during a riot following the second banishment of St. John Chrysostom, then patriarch of Constantinople. It was rebuilt and enlarged by the Roman emperor Constans I. The restored building was rededicated in 415 by Theodosius II. The church was burned again in the Nika insurrection of January 532, a circumstance that gave Justinian I an opportunity to envision a splendid replacement.

The structure now standing is essentially the 6th-century edifice, although an earthquake caused a partial collapse of the dome in 558 (restored 562) and there were two further partial collapses, after which it was rebuilt to a smaller scale and the whole church reinforced from the outside. It was restored again in the mid-14th century. For more than a millennium it was the Cathedral of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. It was looted in 1204 by the Venetians and the Crusaders on the Fourth Crusade.

After the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed II had it repurposed as a mosque, with the addition of a wooden minaret (on the exterior, a tower used for the summons to prayer), a great chandelier, a mihrab (niche indicating the direction of Mecca), and a minbar (pulpit). Either he or his son Bayezid II erected the red minaret that stands on the southeast corner of the structure. The original wooden minaret did not survive. Bayezid II erected the narrow white minaret on the northeast side of the mosque. The two identical minarets on the western side were likely commissioned by Selim II or Murad III and built by renowned Ottoman architect Sinan in the 1500s.

It was good place to visit. Especially keeping in view it's history in case you are interested in then give 5 star

Must be one of the most stunning churches I've seen so far. Make sure you visit while in Istanbul! One of the windows on the second floor has great views on to the Blue Mosque!

One of the great wonders of the world. Awesome. Sad to see this beautiful cathedral turned to a mosque.

Mesmerizing majestic turned into masjid and history in it ownself

Interesting story behind its creation and existence.

Formerly a cathedral then mosque now a museum.A must visit if in istanbul across the other also famous Istanbul landmark Blue Mosque.

Hagia Sophia from the Greek pronounced [a ia so fia], "Holy Wisdom"; Latin: Sancta Sophia or Sancta Sapientia; Turkish: Ayasofya) is the former Greek Orthodox Christian patriarchal cathedral, later an Ottoman imperial mosque and now a More

I would give it 10 stars...The history..the Architecture

In amazing City Amazing Monument..I advice you travelling here, Hospitable people Clean and Beautiful city..