While I loved the view of Ayasofya from the boutique hotel we always stayed at in Istanbul (below/previous picture), this is the front of the building and the more “classic” perspective. For more pictures of this iconic church, taken in later years with a digital camera, there are 16 starting with http://pbase.com/helenpb/image/51998451

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Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya in Turkish) is a former Greek Orthodox Christian patriarchal cathedral, later an Ottoman imperial mosque and now a museum in Istanbul. Built in AD 537, it was famous in particular for its massive dome. It was the world's largest building and an engineering marvel of its time. It is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to have "changed the history of architecture."

Now Turkey's authoritarian leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, wants to turn it back into a mosque.

Best to view in "Original" because other versions resized by Pbase are decidedly unsharp.

Hagia Sophia from our hotel balcony, posted earlier: