n>The Cathedral of St Sophia (meaning Holy Wisdom: Hagia Sophia to Greeks, Aya Sofia to Turks) is perhaps the greatest building to survive intact from the ancient world. Erected between 523 and 537, the Cathedral stood in Constantinople (now Istanbul) as a monument to the majesty of Christendom for nearly a thousand years. Then, in 1453, the capital of what we now call the Byzantine Empire fell to the Ottoman Turks. St Sophia was converted into a mosque; its mosaics were plastered over and minarets added. Four centuries later, Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, secularised the basilica in 1935. It has remained a museum ever since. Read Full Article »