Hagia Sophia · The Face That Was Covered

When Hagia Sophia was completed it was the most imposing building in the world, its dome suspended more than fifty metres above the floor. Later it was made a mosque, then a museum, then a mosque again.

The Christ figure in the dome was covered with plaster for several hundred years and only came back into view in the twentieth century; names scratched into the walls by Vikings can still be seen.

In the hall there is a “weeping column”, worn into a hollow by hands. Guides say: so many people made wishes that the column remembered them.

Historical Mysteries / Istanbul · Türkiye / 537