Hagia Sophia Church Interior

A view looking east down the main nave of the interior of the Church of Hagia Sophia in Nicea.  At the far end is the apse of the church and the semi-circular benches (synthronos) where the clergy sat.

The red brick and the roof of the church have been restored since 2006.  However, the clerestory, with its opening for windows, is from the old church.

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Justinian built the church in Nicea in the sixth century A.D.  Sultan Orhangazi turned it into a mosque in 1331.

In modern times the church/mosque was turned into a "museum" but more recently restored as a mosque.

The Seventh Ecumenical Council convened here in A.D. 787—the one that restored the veneration of icons in churches.