However, when the time came, Anna quickly and surreptitiously mobilized the remainder of the family and took refuge in the Hagia Sophia.

He then took refuge in the church of Hagia Sophia and from there appealed to the populace.

Isaac killed Hagiochristophorites and took refuge in the church of Hagia Sophia.

Anthemius of Tralles ( c. 474 – before 558 ; ) was a Greek professor of Geometry in Constantinople ( present-day Istanbul in Turkey ) and architect, who collaborated with Isidore of Miletus to build the church of Hagia Sophia by the order of Justinian I. Anthemius came from an educated family, one of five sons of Stephanus of Tralles, a physician.

As an architect he is best known for replacing the old church of Hagia Sophia at Constantinople in 532 ; his daring plans for the church strikingly displayed his knowledge.

He described the string construction of the ellipse and he wrote a book on conic sections, which was excellent preparation for designing the elaborate vaulting of Hagia Sophia.

) The mosques that were built after the conquest of Constantinople ( Istanbul ) by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, and influenced by the design of the 6th century Byzantine basilica of Hagia Sophia, had increasingly elevated and large central domes, which create a vertical emphasis that is intended to be more overwhelming ; in order to convey the divine power of Allah, the majesty of the Ottoman Sultan, and the governmental authority of the Ottoman State.

The Church of Hagia Sophia, the sacred palace of the emperors, the hippodrome, and the Golden Gate were among the largest of the many churches, public edifices, and monuments lining the arcaded avenues and squares.

Hagia Sophia | St Sophia, c. 1000

Mosaic above the Imperial Gate in the Hagia Sophia.

12th century mosaic from the upper gallery of the Hagia Sophia, Constantinople.

When Mehmed finally entered Constantinople through what is now known as the Topkapi Gate, he immediately rode his horse to the Hagia Sophia which he ordered to be sacked.

Visitors and merchants were especially struck by the beautiful monasteries and churches of the city, in particular, Hagia Sophia, or the Church of Holy Wisdom: A Russian 14th-century traveler, Stephen of Novgorod, wrote, " As for St Sophia, the human mind can neither tell it nor make description of it.

Interior view of the Hagia Sophia museum.

* Hagia Sophia

By the 9th century, eunuch singers were well-known ( not least in the choir of Hagia Sophia ), and remained so until the sack of Constantinople by the Western forces of the Fourth Crusade in 1204.

* 563 – The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes.

* 537 – The Hagia Sophia is completed.

Those of Hagia Sophia at Constantinople, of the 8th and 9th century, are wrought in bronze, and the west doors of the cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle ( 9th century ), of similar manufacture, were probably brought from Constantinople, as also some of those in St. Marks, Venice.

* 532 – Byzantine Emperor Justinian I orders the building of a new Orthodox Christian basilica in Constantinople – the Hagia Sophia.

Viking graffiti survive in Rome and at Newgrange Mound in Ireland, and a Varangian scratched his name ( Halvdan ) in runes on a banister in the Hagia Sophia at Constantinople.

Gol Gumbaz at Bijapur, Karnataka | Bijapur, has the second largest pre-modern dome in the world after the Byzantine Hagia Sophia.

Isidore of Miletus was one of the two main Byzantine Greek architects ( Anthemius of Tralles was the other ) that Emperor Justinian I commissioned to design the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople from 532-537A. D.

The council confirmed the Nicene Creed and dealt with other matters such as the Arian controversy as it met in the church of Hagia Irene from May to July 381.

Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles originally planned on a main hall of the Hagia Sophia that measured 230 feet by 250 feet, making it the largest church in Constantinople, but the original dome was nearly 20 feet lower than it was constructed, “ Justinian suppressed these riots and took the opportunity of marking his victory by erecting in 532-7 the new Hagia Sophia, one of the largest, most lavish, and most expensive buildings of all time .” Although Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles were not formally educated in architecture, they were scientists that could organize the logistics of drawing thousands of laborers and unprecedented loads of rare raw materials from around the Roman Empire to create the Hagia Sophia for Emperor Justinian I.

He had two large alabaster urns transported from Pergamon and placed on two sides of the nave in the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and a large wax candle dressed in tin which was donated by him to the Rila monastery in Bulgaria is on display in the monastery museum.

The Ottoman Sultan Murad III had two large alabaster urns transported from the ruins of Pergamon and placed on two sides of the nave in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

The " Harvesters vase " from Hagia triada | Agia Triada ( 1600-1500 BC ).

An agrarian procession is depicted on the " Harversters Vase " or Vase of the Winnowers ' from the last phase of the New-palace period, ( LM II ), which was found in Hagia Triada.

A similar belief may be guessed from the Mycenean Hagia Triada sarcophagus ( 1400 BC ), which combines features of Minoan civilization and Mycenean style.

Stones included in the wall are from such sites as the Trondheim Cathedral, Taj Mahal, Clementine Hall, the Parthenon, Hagia Sophia, Corregidor Island, Palace of Westminster, petrified wood from the Redwood National and State Parks, the Great Pyramid, The Alamo, Notre-Dame, Abraham Lincoln ’ s Tomb, the Great Wall of China, Independence Hall, Fort Santiago, the Berlin Wall, Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, and Banteay Srei among others.

* Isaac Comnenus ( nephew of Andronicus I Comnenus ) – escaped from prison and fled to Hagia Sophia, where he proceeded to incite a mob.

Theophanes the Confessor records that Leo IV died as a result of a fever brought on from the precious stones in a crown taken from the Hagia Sophia ; some scholars have indicated that upon his accession to the throne Leo was already sick, while others believe Leo was murdered by persons unknown, though Irene is suspected.

Empress Irene, from the Komnenos mosaic in the Hagia Sofia

At an assembly at Hagia Sophia, the people escorted a furious Theodora from Petrion, and proclaimed her empress along with Zoe.

With Michael V dealt with, Theodora refused to leave Hagia Sophia until she had received word from Zoe, some 24 hours after Theodora had been crowned.

Just as the Emperor could pass privately from his palace into the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, so now Louis could pass directly from his palace into the Sainte-Chapelle.

The city's Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom ( 1044 – 66 ), though completely rebuilt over the years, remains a symbol of this independent-mindedness, rivaling churches of the same name in Novgorod and Kiev, referring to the original Hagia Sophia in Constantinople ( and hence to claims of imperial prestige, authority and sovereignty ).

Interior of the ancient Hagia Sophia Church ( Sofia ) | Holy Sophia Church which gave its name to the city

The city's famous patriarchal basilica, the Hagia Sophia, had already been converted into a mosque by the conquerors, so Gennadius established his seat at the Church of the Holy Apostles.

The Hagia Sophia, or Church of the Holy Wisdom, undergoing restoration in Istanbul, Turkey

Both the churches of Hagia Irene (" Holy Peace ") and Hagia Sophia (" Holy Wisdom ") were burnt down.

Holy Week ( Latin: Hebdomas Sancta or Hebdomas Maior, " Greater Week "; Greek: Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas ) in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter.

Holy Wisdom: Hagia Sophia

The cathedral's name comes from the 6th-century Hagia Sophia cathedral in Constantinople ( meaning Holy Wisdom, and dedicated to the Holy Wisdom rather than a specific saint named Sophia ).

* Hagia Irene church in Istanbul is often called " St Irene ", although it is actually named after the " Holy ( Divine ) Peace "

Hagia Sophia means either " Holy Wisdom " or " Saint Sophia " ( or Αγία Σοφία in Greek, Sancta Sophia in Latin, Ayasofya in Turkish ).

* Hagia Sophia, the Church of the Holy Wisdom in Istanbul, Turkey, now a museum

The design of the mosque was based on the Hagia Sophia ( Church of Holy Wisdom ), the masterpiece of Byzantine architecture built in the 6th century, and on the work of his master, Mimar Sinan.

By the 8th century, however, the route went via the western hill instead ; starting at Gethsemene, it continued to the alleged House of Caiaphas on Mount Zion, then to Hagia Sophia ( viewed as the site of the Praetorium ), and finally to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

In Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christianity Sophia, or rather Hagia Sophia, Holy Wisdom is an expression of understanding of the Holy Spirit, ( as in the dedication of the church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul ) and for example as in the Old Testament in the Book of Proverbs 9: 1, but in no way in terms of pagan goddess worship.

The Hagia Sophia or Holy Wisdom church in Constantinople was the religious center of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly a thousand years.

Exterior view of the Hagia Sophia or the Holy Wisdom, 2004.