The Hagia Sophia. Part 1 - An Introduction

The Hagia Sophia is the most important Byzantine building and so it will take 5 videos to do it justice. This is part 1 an introduction to the buildings history.
This video is part of a series - 'The History of Byzantium goes to Istanbul.' In 2018 the listeners of the podcast funded a Kickstarter to send me to Istanbul. I documented many of the surviving Byzantine sites and have made videos about them.
I am now able to offer tours to Istanbul (and beyond) for listeners of the podcast. Email me if you'd like to know more (thehistoryofbyzantium at gmail.com).
Video edited by / suhlefilm
For more information about Byzantine Constantinople visit www.thebyzanti.... It's a fantastic website providing breakdowns of the Byzantine buildings that can still be seen today and there you'll find most of the still images and sketches used in these videos.
'The History of Byzantium' is a podcast telling the story of the Roman Empire from 476 AD to 1453. The podcast home page is here thehistoryofby... and you can support the show at / historyofbyzantium
#constantinople #justinian #hagia sophia #istanbul #byzantium #byzantine

[@MrLantean]

It should be continued as a museum rather being being restore as a house of worship. Without any solid evidence, Muslims insisted that Sultan Mehmed II purchased it from the Patriarch Of Constantinople prior to convert it as a mosque. It is the holiest shrine in Eastern Orthodox Christianity just like St Peter's in Rome to the Roman Catholics or the Masjid Al Haram in Mecca to the Muslims and the church will never sell it regardless. It may sell unimportant churches but never Hagia Sophia. Muslims often complains about many churches in Spain that are formerly mosques before being converted. The Spanish never denied that they seized mosques and either converted them or construct new churches after demolished them during the Reconquista. Muslims on the other deny that Sultan Mehmd II seized Hagia Sophia as a war trophy and insist that he purchased it.

[@randomguy-kn1wl]

I mean what you or i want is irrelevant. Even if the Ottomans lied about purchasing it or not where does it matter? That´s nobody´s business but the turks

[@ReplyToMeIfUrRetarded]

cringe secularist

[@PolTheory596]

Robin, I've been a fan since episode 1! I'm so glad to see you putting up youtube content. I actually got to see the Hagia Sophia back in the year 2000. Thanks so much for the fresh look at it!

[@davidrobinson4883]

Thanks Robin! I really enjoy your podcast and now greatly appreciate your videos too.

[@alworcester]

Thanks for these videos!

[@dunyamkucuk9193]

And say: Truth hath come and falsehood hath vanished away. Falsehood is ever bound to vanish☪️Elhamdilullah🇹🇷.

[@marcmathew4073]

Exactly islam will vanish away one day.

[@dunyamkucuk9193]

@@marcmathew4073 wish know it Marc!

[@rayanebeddar9152]

​@@marcmathew4073 like Christianity vanished there is no one in this generation feel like a real Christian

[@Theodoros_Kolokotronis]

Modern Greeks embrace their Byzantine Christian heritage and hold it dear mate. Keeping our faith alive for centuries. Christianity has never vanished. And shall never vanish.

[@victoresp100]

Love your content so much! Keep up the great work

[@PeteV80]

Your content us so well done. Please continue

[@petrosdorizas6814]

Awesome! Any updated traveling tips, since I believe when you visited it was still just a museum?

[@TheHistoryofByzantiumPodcast]

Keep your shoes with you at all times. It's a mosque now so you have to take them off but they may get stolen if you leave them in the shoe racks

[@___beyondhorizon4664]

According to the Turkish airlines free city tour, the tour guide pronounced the museum/ mosque as Aia Sophia, with the H and G muted. I think the tour guide is more accurate since its their job If female tourist wears a short skirt to visit the Blue Mosque, they loan tourist a pull up long skirt to enter the mosque. I visited Hagia Sophia for the 4th time on October 6th 2021 , i wore long pants, so im not sure if during summer, when tourist are in shorts, im not sure if they will require tourist to borrow the long pull up skirts or not. When it was a museum, it was not an issue.

[@infaillible53]

Normally, a church cannot be converted into a mosque and vice versa. A Christian place of worship is built from east to west. A mosque is built in the direction of Mecca. For this reason, the Hagia Sophia cannot be a mosque. Its construction does not fit into the canon of Islam. Many imams take offence at the rededication by the Turkish state.

[@Forlfir]

Then make it in a church again, or at least a museum

[@cerracarmine]

Beautiful

[@milenarajevic8280]

Aja Sofija je odraz jednog vremena, shvatanja i stremljenja ka veličanstvenom.

[@Patroness]

The volume of the music is overwhelming

[@Keskitalo1]

Make Istanbul Constantinople again!

[@dunyamkucuk9193]

We will be waiting in Istanbul for every sinner who wants to end his earthly life and reach hell quickly.

[@jakegarvin7634]

Halfdan carved these runes.

[@PeteV80]

So sad it has been desecrated

[@abdulhakimsaid9264]

İre'nke ne'ninak Üdvözlet kedves szomsze'd asszony,la'tlok ott a sarokban!!!Cso'kolom csa'sza'rne'/Hasret kaldım imparatoriçe Piroska(İre'nke),Selâmlar...Erdelden,İsten nyugtassa!!!

[@xMoac]

Sadly Turks defiled the cathedral by implementing worship of some foreign deity they worship on its premises.

[@serjstol6695]

they closed the second floor for "restoration", so unable to see the mosaics or the viking etching. The restoration probably means "covering up everything behind the cloth"

[@Constantine-g7o]

The reason the mosaics are still there is because they couldn't have been removed

[@TheHistoryofByzantiumPodcast]

How do you mean?

[@Constantine-g7o]

The turks tried to remove them but were unable

[@TheHistoryofByzantiumPodcast]

@@Constantine-g7o I'm confused. If they wanted to remove them they would have

[@Constantine-g7o]

@TheHistoryofByzantiumPodcast they tried but couldn't,it's rather complicated....anyway, I'm a really big fan of the podcast, and I just wanted to congratulate you on focusing on such a forgotten part of history

[@masaruseven762]

Grand Mosque Ayasofya