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Once the Basilica of
Hagia Sophia, which means Holy Wisdom, this
building has been renamed Ayasofya Museum and it is one of the
greatest architectural designs ever conceived in the classical
basilica. It was constructed by the order of Constantine the Great
in the 4th c. and Emperor Justinian I, rebuilt it between 532 and 537
A.D. It has also been a mosque, but was changed to a museum in 1935
by The Republic of Turkey. It is located in Istanbul,
Turkey, which
was once called Constantinople. For almost a thousand years it was
the largest cathedral ever constructed and the main base of the
Eastern Orthodox Church for close to a thousand years. It was used
as a model for some of the Ottoman mosques like
Blue Mosque of
Istanbul which is Sultan Ahmed Mosque.
When the Ottoman Turks overpowered Constantinople in 1453 they took
away the the altar, bells, sacrificial vessels, and iconostasis.
Over a period of time many of the mosaics were covered with plaster.
Another great museum to visit is the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul,
which is within the first court of the Topkapi Palace
located in the
old city. Some of the more will known parts of its collection
include part of the Athenian Temple (facade) and the Alexander
Sarcophagus. It also holds intriguing artifacts from Assyrian,
Sumerian, Babylonian, Hittite, and Hatti cultures.
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Across from the Blue Mosque sits the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum
located in the old city. The building is constructed of dark stone
and it was once the home of the Vizier to Suley the Magnificent,
Ibrahim Pasha. Some of the finest miniatures, ceramics, textiles,
woodwork, metalwork, calligraphy, and examples of the most ancient
surviving carpets in the world are housed in this museum.
Some of the other interesting museums are the Aviation Museum in
Yesilkoy, which lies next to the Marmara Sea around seven miles away
from the historic center of Istanbul to the west; it explains the
history of aviation in Turkey. The Naval Museum situated in the
Besiktas district exhibits the Ottoman naval history. This district
is on the European side of Istanbul along the coast of the
Bosphorus.
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