Hagia Sophia Exterior

Hagia Sophia Exterior

A view of looking west at the east (apse) end of the Hagia Sophia Church.


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.