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Perhaps the single most compelling sight in Sultanahmet is the former Byzantine cathedral of Aya Sofya , the massive domed structure commissioned in the sixth century by the Emperor Justinian. It was converted to a mosque in 1453, after which the minarets were added. In 1934 it became a museum (Tues-Sun 9.15am-4.30pm; $4). For centuries this was the largest enclosed space in the world, and the interior - filled with shafts of light from the high windows around the dome - is still profoundly impressive. Scaffolding for a massive restoration programme currently obscures part of the dome's interior, but nevertheless helps bring home the scale of the place. Inside there are a few features left over from its time as a mosque - a mihrab (niche indicating the direction of Mecca), a mimber (pulpit) and the enormous wooden plaques which bear sacred names of God, the prophet Muhammad and the first four caliphs - but the most interesting elements are the Byzantine ones. Between the four great piers that hold up the dome, columns of green marble support the galleries; the smaller columns above are a deep red. The balconies, pediments and capitals are of white marble, the latter a riot of interlacing leaf carvings, many bearing the monograms of Justinian and his wife Theodora. Upstairs in the western gallery a large circle of green Thessalian marble marks the position of the throne of the empress. There are also remains of abstract and figurative mosaics . One, beyond a pair of false marble doors in the south gallery, depicts Christ, the Virgin and John the Baptist; another, on the east wall of the gallery, shows Christ flanked by an emperor and empress believed to be Constantine IX Monomachus and the Empress Zoe. One of the most beautiful of all the mosaics can be seen downstairs in the Vestibule of Warriors; dated to the last quarter of the tenth century, it shows Virgin and Child flanked by the emperors Justinian, offering a model of the church, and Constantine, offering a model of the city. Outside, more scaffolding heralds the removal of ugly cement cladding to expose the original brickwork.
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