Imagine you're walking through a city full of marble streets,

fountains and buildings with domes that shine in the sunlight.

You hear the sound of church bells and people speaking many different languages around you.

You walk toward a giant building, taller than anything you've ever seen,

with huge doors and a golden dome that seems to touch the sky. As you step inside, your eyes grow wide.

It feels like walking into a treasure chest filled with golden mosaics,

giant columns, and a ceiling so high you wonder how anyone could ever build it.

You've just entered Hagia Sophia, one of the most amazing buildings ever made.

Hagia Sophia is located in the city, now called Istanbul, in the country of Turkey.

Long ago, this city was called Constantinople, and it was the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

That was more than 150 years ago.

The name Hagia Sophia means holy wisdom in Greek. The incredible building

we see today wasn't the first version of Hagia Sophia. Two earlier churches once stood on the same

spot. The first was built in the year 360 by the Roman Emperor Constantius II, but it was damaged

during times of unrest.

A second version was built in 415, but was destroyed in a fire in 532 after a time of unrest in the city.

After that fire, the emperor at the time, Justinian I, wanted to build something grander than ever before. He imagined a church so magnificent that it would show everyone the power and beauty of his empire.

Justinian hired two very smart men to design it,

Anthemius of Trollis and Isidore of Miletus.

They were not regular builders, they were mathematicians and engineers. They started working on

Hagia Sophia in 532. And amazingly, the building was finished in just five years in 537.

When Emperor Justinian saw the final church completed, he was amazed. A famous story says that when

...