Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore describes the Hagia Sophia, or Aya Sofya, as the greatest building in Europe.
Although looking very much the grand camii it was until the last century, with its impressive Byzantine dome, and minarets, it was consecrated as a Greek Orthodox basilica in the 6th century, and was the focal point of the Eastern Orthodox church for nearly 1000 years. It was commissioned by Emperor Justinian I, the Great, by most accounts a nasty slice of ambitious tyrant, for his empress, Theodore. It was instrumental in its own downfall, being site of the start of Christianity's Great Schism. (It's amazing what you can learn on BBC iplayer).
Ataturk clearly recognized its importance to modern, secular Turkey, and turned it into a museum.
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