When you walk out of the street where our Hotel is located,you will find one of the magnificent work of arts in history, Haghia Sofia on the Blue Mosque Square. Just like the light of the stars on a cloudless night which comes us from thousands of years ago, Haghia Sofia offers us a scene from 1600 years ago too. Now we advise you to visit our cafe and refresh your knowledge on Haghia Sophia going to the square, as this work of art occupies an important place for both Christian and Islamic sphere.

The present edifice of Haghia Sophia is the third of that name to stand upon this site. The first church of Haghia Sophia was dedicated on 15 February in the year A.D.360, during the reign of Constantius, son and successor of Constantine the Great. This church was destroyed by fire on 20 June 404, during a riot by mobs protesting the exile of Patriarch Jonh Chrysostom by the Empress Eudoxia , wife of the Emperor Arcadius. Reconstruction of the church did not begin until the reign of Theodosius II, who succeeded his father Arcadius in the year 408. The second church of Haghia Sophia was completed in 415 and was dedicated by Theodosius on 10 october of that year. The church of Theodosius eventually suffered the same fate as its predecessor, for it was burned down during the Nika Revolt on 15 January 532.

The cronicler Prokopius, commenting on the destruction of Haghia Sophia in the Nika Revolt , observed that “God allowed the mob commit this sacrilege , knowing how great the beauty of this church would be when restored” Procopius tell us that Justinian immediately set out to rebuild the church on an even grander scale than before. According to Procopius :”The Emperor built regardless of expense , gathering together skilled workmen from every land” Justinian appointed as head architect Anthemius of Tralles, one of the most distinguished mathematicians and physicists of the age, and as his assistant named Isidorus of Miletus, the greatest geometer of late antiquity. Isidorus had been the director of ancient and illustrious Academy in the Athens before it was closed by Justinian in the year 529,Isidorus who has placed in the year 532, is thus a link between the worlds of ancient Greece and medieval Byzantium. Just as the Academy of Plato had been one of the outstanding institutions of classical Greek culture, so would the resurrected Haghia Sophia be the symbol of triumphant Christianity, Byzantine-style.


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