About ISTANBUL |
Istanbul is a city rich in culture and history. Its many museums tell the story of this famous city. Istanbul is a metropolitan city governed by a mayor. Istanbul's population is about 12 million with the vast majority being ethnic Turks; some hundreds of thousands are of ethnic Kurdish origin; about 20,000 of Jewish ethnic origin; a few thousand of ethnic Armenian origin with their own Patriarch and nearly 4,000 of Greek ethnic origin. |
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Sarcophagus of the Mourning Women at Istanbul Archaeological Museum
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Haghia Sophia, the "Church of Holy Wisdom," was built by the Emperor Justinian in the 6th century. More than 1400 years old, Haghia Sophia covers a total area of 7570 square meters and is over 100 metres long. Never again did the Byzantines attempt to build anything approaching the scale of Haghia Sophia.
After 916 years as a church, Haghia Sophia was converted into a mosque in 1453, shortly after the conquest. Apart from whitewashing the paintings and mosaics and removing the Christian icons and statues, the Turks left Haghia Sophia untouched. They committed no acts of destruction as the eighth and ninth century Christian iconoclasts had done. In 1935 the church was transformed into a museum.
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About Istanbul
http://www.travelcottage.com/international/istanbul
Tour and travel information on Istanbul, Turkey.