Istanbul Photos - The Hagia Sophia Panoramas

[mcgillianaire]

The Hagia Sophia was the most beautiful building that we visited in Istanbul. A church for more than 1000 years, a mosque for nearly 500 years and now a museum since 1935, a trip to this city would be incomplete without paying your respects to this magnificent structure. And it's huge, so big in fact that it was the world's largest cathedral for over 1000 years until the Seville Cathedral was completed in 1520. Unlike previous photostitched posts, this one is dominated by vertical panoramas.


The Hagia Sophia is located on the European side of Istanbul, on the peninsula that is also home to the oldest parts of the city. The current structure dates from 537 AD but the original cathedral was dedicated in 360 AD.


As usual, click on any of the images to enlarge them.



A horizontal panorama taken on the upper floor level.

Comments

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Wow!

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

That was certainly my reaction when I walked inside!

[kapitankraut.livejournal.com]

They've finally taken the scaffolding down! Fantastic! That in itself is a reason for me to plan a return to Istanbul, since the Ayasofya's been being renovated the two times I've been before.

[mcgillianaire.livejournal.com]

Interesting, I can imagine it not being as good with the scaffolding up. I had a similar problem when I visited Il Duomo in Milan. But the Ayasofya is definitely worth multiple visits. Next time I'd like to see it with a bit more time on my hands and perhaps take a few photos less so that I can spend more time admiring it in person. On this particular trip I was fairly keen to take as many pictures as possible, especially for creating this addictive panoramas. I also think the work at the museum has now shifted outside because I think there was some scaffolding on the building's exterior and there was certainly a lot of landscaping work taking place around the complex. Didn't take anything away from its magnificence however.