Often referred to as the eighth wonder of the World, the Hagia Sophia Church was completed in 532 AD under the direction of the Byzantine emperor, Justinian I. It took just five years and the manpower of nearly 11,000 people to erect the structure that was the largest Christian church in the world for nearly a thousand years. Following the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, Mehmet the Conqueror declared the Hagia Sophia a mosque, and it remained that way for nearly 500 years. The massive dome of the Hagia Sophia was considered a revolution in the history of architecture, and today, is supported by the four minarets built during the Ottoman period. In 1935, 7 years after the Republic of Turkey became a secular government, esteemed leader Ataturk opened the Hagia Sophia as a museum for all and a symbol of harmony.
