Across the hippodrome past the fountain visible from the Blue Mosque is Hagia Sofia, built nearly 2000 years ago. At the time of construction, this was the biggest cathedral in the world. I can't even begin to imagine that Hagia Sofia was built in 360, especially when I'm inside. It occurs to me that we modern folk are still creating edifices that mimic the look of ancient buildings.
Hagia is pronounced Hiya or Aya. As with many historical houses of worship over the millennia, first this was church. Then it was a mosque. Now it's a museum. I've traveled a lot, but I'm finally beginning to learn a bit about ancient architecture styles -- Ottoman, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and such. Hagia Sofia is an example (some say one of the best) of the Byzantine style -- Roman bricks, more elaborate, lots of domes, brighter interiors and mosaic embellishments. Emperor Justinian, when he commissioned the Hagia, also included bits and pieces, so to speak of other buildings -- including the green marble columns from Ephesus, Izmir (more later).
Of note to me, were four angels painted in corners of the sanctuary. Still in the throes of restoration, only one angel's face is visible; the others are still covered in paint from when the church became a mosque. 
(ASIDE) My guide book -- one I picked up in the lobby of our hotel, full of ads since it was produced by Avea, a telecom company (Adina says it was part of ATT) -- was actually quite bad. The English was so badly translated that it was distracting. Still, on the cover was a photo of a mosaic from inside the Hagia Sofia. That's how important this building is to the culture of Istanbul. I've started thinking about a website devoted to wacky translations. I want to call it fixmycrappyenglish.com. Opinions?
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