2009: Apex Of the 2009 Pilgrimage (Turkey)

Hagia Sophia was the reason I wanted to go to Istanbul (previously Constantinople) in the first place. It was first a church, later a mosque, and now is a museum.

13th century mosaic of Jesus and John the Baptist.

The Roman Emperor Constantine founded the city of Constantinople in the 4th century AD. He moved the administration of the empire there at a time when Rome and the Western portion of the empire were in decline. The Eastern portion of the empire, what we call Byzantium, was energized and thrived for 1000 years, while the Western portion, more or less what we call Europe, lost its steam and took the long period of R&R known as the Middle Ages.

Islamic medallion with mother and child mosaic decorating the main dome.

Constantine also declared Christianity to be AN acceptable religion, ending 300 years of persecution of Christians within the borders of the Roman Empire. That had a massive impact on the viability and spread of Christianity and therefore on all Eurasian history... if you are a Christian today it is in some part thanks to Constantine. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before the pendulum swung the other way - Christianity became the ONLY acceptable religion of the empire and the persecuted became the persecutors of others.

13th century mosaic of Jesus and John the Baptist.

Sometime before that, though, in the 6th century AD, the church of Hagia Sophia was built in Constantinople to honor the new religion. It remained a church until 1453 when Constantinople was conquored by the Turks and became the seat of the Ottoman Empire. Then it was used as a mosque for the next 500 years or so.
In the 20th century, when Constantinople became Istanbul, Hagia Sophia was renovated in a way that highlights both elements - Christian and Islamic mosaics inside, early Christian architecture with minarets outside. Now it's a really beautiful combination of the two. Just the stone columns are awe inspiring to make it worth a visit - the biggest ones are more than 60 feet high and almost 5 feet in diameter made out of 70 tons of solid granite. I've wanted to see Hagia Sophia for a couple of decades since I first read about it in my history books, so this part of my trip was really a highlight for me!