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Description
"Hagia Sophia" (from the Greek for "Holy Wisdom") (9in H X 12in W) depicts the sombre glow of sunlight on a Christian religious mosaic that had been partially destroyed and plastered over around 1453 when the Ottomans converted it to a mosque. Hagia Sophia was originally built on the orders of (Roman) Emperor Justinian I as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral between 532 and 537 AD, a role fulfilled until 1453. Between 1204 and 1261 (the Fourth Crusade) Hagia Sophia was a Catholic cathedral.
From 1453 until 1931 it was an Ottoman mosque. The four minarets were added and other modifications made at the beginning of that period. In 1935 it was secularized and converted into a museum, the role in which it continues to serve today.
Hagia Sophia represents the first architectural instance of a round dome seated atop a square base.

Description
"Hagia Sophia" (from the Greek for "Holy Wisdom") (9in H X 12in W) depicts the sombre glow of sunlight on a Christian religious mosaic that had been partially destroyed and plastered over around 1453 when the Ottomans converted it to a mosque. Hagia Sophia was originally built on the orders of (Roman) Emperor Justinian I as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral between 532 and 537 AD, a role fulfilled until 1453. Between 1204 and 1261 (the Fourth Crusade) Hagia Sophia was a Catholic cathedral.
From 1453 until 1931 it was an Ottoman mosque. The four minarets were added and other modifications made at the beginning of that period. In 1935 it was secularized and converted into a museum, the role in which it continues to serve today.
Hagia Sophia represents the first architectural instance of a round dome seated atop a square base.