The Hagia Sophia

“Third times a charm” is what I said this morning when I snoozed my alarm. But it’s also what history said to the Hagia Sophia. The Hagia Sophia, located in Constantinople [modern day Istanbul] built in 325 AD, was majorly rebuilt three times. It was primarily built to be a church called the “Magna Ecclesia (Great Church)” by emperor Constantine I of the Byzantine empire. It was then destroyed in 404 A.D during riots following the exile of Archbishop John Chrysostom. Fast forward to 415 AD when Theodosius II became emperor of Byzantium, Magna Ecclesia was rebuilt. All’s well until 532 AD during the Nika Riots, when they quite literally burnt the whole thing down. All that to take down emperor Justinian I who interestingly enough, managed to retain power. So bro looked at the remains of the monument and went “Nah fam” and then took only 6 years to build in its place, the phenomenal Hagia Sophia.

He assigned the task to Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus and dare I say, they ate. Although the engineering could have been better, given the number of times the monument had minor collapses. It remained a cathedral for over a millennium. That is until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453. The conqueror, Mehmed II repurposed the cathedral and turned it into a Mosque. The biblical mosaics were painted over and covered with Islamic calligraphy, the carved marble floors were covered in red carpet, walls were covered with four big discs representing the four Caliphs of Islam. Mehmed II had four minarets built around the mosque. It remained a mosque for a very very very long time.

It is now 1934, the Ottoman Empire has fallen, and the Republic of Turkey is now set in place. Enter President Kemal Atatürk who now secularizes the monument. In 1935 it is redesignated to become a museum. So is it a museum now? No. This was a major conflict for followers of both Christianity and Islam. As both groups wanted the monument restored back to their religions respectively. But in 2020, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said “lmao” to the 1935 ruling and declared the Hagia Sophia a mosque again. As of 2026, it is still a mosque. What a rollercoaster! So the next time someone tells you about their ex with commitment issues ask them, “Have you ever heard of the Hagia Sophia?”