Hagia Sophia: Where Empires Meet and Light Touches the Divine

📍 Address: Sultan Ahmet, Ayasofya Meydanı No 1, 34122 Fatih, Istanbul 
🎟 Entry Fee: €25 (or ~850 TL) for foreign visitors (under-8s free); Turkish citizens may attend prayers free in the lower mosque area 
🕒 Visiting Hours: Open daily 09:00–19:00

Built in 537 AD as a Byzantine cathedral, converted into a mosque in 1453, later a museum, and reconverted into a mosque in 2020—Hagia Sophia embodies Eastern Roman and Ottoman legacy.
Inside, its immense dome (32 m wide, 55 m tall) crowns a vast prayer hall, filled with light from 40 windows—an engineering marvel of its time .
Upper-gallery tourists (with tickets) walk through where Byzantine mosaics—such as the Deësis, Seraphim, and Viking-inscription—mix with Ottoman calligraphic medallions, creating a unique spiritual-artistic fusion.

✅ Visiting Tips
• Dress code & etiquette:
• Women: headscarf (available on-site for €1), shoulders/knees covered
• Men: no shorts above knee
• Remove shoes before entering prayer hall 
• Access note: Tours and guides are not allowed inside; instead, use the free audio guide via QR codes for multilingual context.
• Upper gallery only: Foreign tourists can access the gallery with ticket—prayer hall access is reserved for Muslim worshippers during prayer.
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Post by Skytoucher R | Jun 19, 2025