hagia sophia 360 virtual tour

The best free cultural &

educational media on the web

• Online Courses
• Certificates
• Degrees & Mini-Degrees
• Audio Books

360 Degree Virtual Tours of the Hagia Sophia

in Architecture , Art , History , Travel | August 23rd, 2021 2 Comments

Last year, when Turk­ish pres­i­dent Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that Hagia Sophia would be recon­vert­ed into a mosque, he assured a con­cerned UNESCO that changes to the 1,500-year-old for­mer cathe­dral-turned-mosque would have “no neg­a­tive impact” on its sta­tus as World Her­itage Site. “A state must make sure that no mod­i­fi­ca­tion under­mines the out­stand­ing uni­ver­sal val­ue of a site list­ed on its ter­ri­to­ry,” the world body has said. Claims to the con­trary notwith­stand­ing, the “uni­ver­sal val­ue” of the site does seem to have been under­mined.

Des­ig­nat­ed a muse­um by the sec­u­lar Turk­ish Repub­lic in 1934, the site con­tains hun­dreds of years of his­to­ry for both the Chris­t­ian and Islam­ic worlds, and the shared her­itage between them in the shift­ing mix of peo­ples who con­quered, set­tled, and moved through the city first called Byzan­tium, then Con­stan­tino­ple, then Istan­bul.

“The World Her­itage site was at the cen­tre of both the Chris­t­ian Byzan­tine and Mus­lim Ottoman empires and is today one of Turkey’s most vis­it­ed mon­u­ments,” Reuters not­ed last year.

The mosque is open to the pub­lic for prayers , and any­one can vis­it. What they’ll find — as you can see in this recent tour video  — is ugly green car­pet­ing cov­er­ing the floor, and screens, pan­els, and ply­wood obscur­ing the Byzan­tine Chris­t­ian art. (The same thing was done in the small­er Hagia Sophia in the city of Tra­b­zon .) These changes are not only dis­tress­ing for UNESCO, but also for lovers of art and his­to­ry around the world, myself includ­ed, who had hoped to one day see the mil­len­nia-and-a-half of blend­ed reli­gious and aes­thet­ic tra­di­tions for them­selves.

It’s pos­si­ble Turk­ish pol­i­tics will allow Hagia Sophia to return to its sta­tus as a muse­um in the future, restor­ing its “uni­ver­sal val­ue” for world his­to­ry and cul­ture. If not, we can still vis­it the space vir­tu­al­ly — as it was until last year — in the 360 degree video views above, both of which allow you to look around in any direc­tion as they play. You can also swiv­el around a spher­i­cal panoram­ic image at 360 cities .

The BBC video at the top nar­rates some of the sig­nif­i­cant fea­tures of the incred­i­ble build­ing, once the largest church in the world, includ­ing its “col­ored mar­ble from around the Roman Empire” and “10,000 square meters of gold mosa­ic.” Learn much more about Hagia Sophia his­to­ry in the video above from Khan Academy’s exec­u­tive direc­tors (and for­mer deans of art and his­to­ry), Dr. Steven Zuck­er and Dr. Beth Har­ris.

Relat­ed Con­tent:  

An Intro­duc­tion to Hagia Sophia: After 85 Years as a Muse­um, It’s Set to Become a Mosque Again

Hear the Sound of the Hagia Sophia Recre­at­ed in Authen­tic Byzan­tine Chant

Istan­bul Cap­tured in Beau­ti­ful Col­or Images from 1890: The Hagia Sophia, Top­ka­ki Palace’s Impe­r­i­al Gate & More

Josh Jones  is a writer and musi­cian based in Durham, NC. Fol­low him at  @jdmagness

by Josh Jones | Permalink | Comments (2) |

Related posts:

Comments (2), 2 comments so far.

I vis­it­ed twice in August. At least the green car­pet is vac­u­umed con­stant­ly and before pray begins for the hand­ful of wor­shipers men in dark secu­ri­ty-look­ing uni­forms uncer­e­mo­ni­ous­ly chase peo­ple away with larg­er san­i­tiz­ing sprayers like mos­qui­toes. At least the chil­dren can have fun jump­ing over the taught vac­u­um cords. Lest we get dan­ger­ous­ly close to the apse there are long col­lapsi­ble met­al secu­ri­ty gates keep­ing one at a safe dis­tance; not only here in the cen­tral part of the nave, but thank­ful­ly every oth­er key place avail­able for wor­ship. As an aid to med­i­ta­tion the plush but sen­si­bly piled car­pet dead­ens all sound with­in the once holy realm as those annoy­ing acoustics are now a thing of the past. Thought­ful for the wheel­chair-bound vis­i­tor, the old treach­er­ous ramp to the gallery and famed mosaics is closed so no need to wor­ry about acci­dents. What will they think of next!

Aya­so­fya, ben­im evimdir ve izin­siz olarak giren hırsızdır, günahkardır, ve bedel öder. Sözde müs­lü­man­ların, ibadet­leri­ni, Allah, yıl­lardır, bu, yüz­den kab­ul etmiy­or. Dünyalılar, baş­ka bedeller de ödeye­cek. ben gök­lere ait olan yüce biriy­im. Bana muhale­fet eden, Allah’a isyan etmiş sayılır. Aya­so­fya’­da kab­ul olmayan ibadet­leri­ni gös­ter­iş için yapan, sözde müs­lü­man artık­ları, değer­siz dur, elbet. Ben onları affet­meye­ceğim, hakkımı helal etmiy­o­rum. Lan­et olsun, malımı mülkümü haince gas­pe­den­lere!

Add a comment

Leave a reply.

Name (required)

Email (required)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

Click here to cancel reply.

• 1,700 Free Online Courses
• 200 Online Certificate Programs
• 100+ Online Degree & Mini-Degree Programs
• 1,150 Free Movies
• 1,000 Free Audio Books
• 150+ Best Podcasts
• 800 Free eBooks
• 200 Free Textbooks
• 300 Free Language Lessons
• 150 Free Business Courses
• Free K-12 Education
• Get Our Daily Email

Free Courses

• Art & Art History
• Classics/Ancient World
• Computer Science
• Data Science
• Engineering
• Environment
• Political Science
• Writing & Journalism
• All 1500 Free Courses
• 1000+ MOOCs & Certificate Courses

Receive our Daily Email

Free updates, get our daily email.

Get the best cultural and educational resources on the web curated for you in a daily email. We never spam. Unsubscribe at any time.

FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Free Movies

• 1150 Free Movies Online
• Free Film Noir
• Silent Films
• Documentaries
• Martial Arts/Kung Fu
• Free Hitchcock Films
• Free Charlie Chaplin
• Free John Wayne Movies
• Free Tarkovsky Films
• Free Dziga Vertov
• Free Oscar Winners
• Free Language Lessons
• All Languages

Free eBooks

• 700 Free eBooks
• Free Philosophy eBooks
• The Harvard Classics
• Philip K. Dick Stories
• Neil Gaiman Stories
• David Foster Wallace Stories & Essays
• Hemingway Stories
• Great Gatsby & Other Fitzgerald Novels
• HP Lovecraft
• Edgar Allan Poe
• Free Alice Munro Stories
• Jennifer Egan Stories
• George Saunders Stories
• Hunter S. Thompson Essays
• Joan Didion Essays
• Gabriel Garcia Marquez Stories
• David Sedaris Stories
• Stephen King
• Golden Age Comics
• Free Books by UC Press
• Life Changing Books

Free Audio Books

• 700 Free Audio Books
• Free Audio Books: Fiction
• Free Audio Books: Poetry
• Free Audio Books: Non-Fiction

Free Textbooks

• Free Physics Textbooks
• Free Computer Science Textbooks
• Free Math Textbooks

K-12 Resources

• Free Video Lessons
• Web Resources by Subject
• Quality YouTube Channels
• Teacher Resources
• All Free Kids Resources

Free Art & Images

• All Art Images & Books
• The Rijksmuseum
• Smithsonian
• The Guggenheim
• The National Gallery
• The Whitney
• LA County Museum
• Stanford University
• British Library
• Google Art Project
• French Revolution
• Getty Images
• Guggenheim Art Books
• Met Art Books
• Getty Art Books
• New York Public Library Maps
• Museum of New Zealand
• Smarthistory
• Coloring Books
• All Bach Organ Works
• All of Bach
• 80,000 Classical Music Scores
• Free Classical Music
• Live Classical Music
• 9,000 Grateful Dead Concerts
• Alan Lomax Blues & Folk Archive

Writing Tips

• William Zinsser
• Kurt Vonnegut
• Toni Morrison
• Margaret Atwood
• David Ogilvy
• Billy Wilder
• All posts by date

Personal Finance

• Open Personal Finance
• Amazon Kindle
• Architecture
• Artificial Intelligence
• Beat & Tweets
• Comics/Cartoons
• Current Affairs
• English Language
• Entrepreneurship
• Food & Drink
• Graduation Speech
• How to Learn for Free
• Internet Archive
• Language Lessons
• Most Popular
• Neuroscience
• Photography
• Pretty Much Pop
• Productivity
• UC Berkeley
• Uncategorized
• Video - Arts & Culture
• Video - Politics/Society
• Video - Science
• Video Games

Great Lectures

• Michel Foucault
• Sun Ra at UC Berkeley
• Richard Feynman
• Joseph Campbell
• Jorge Luis Borges
• Leonard Bernstein
• Richard Dawkins
• Buckminster Fuller
• Walter Kaufmann on Existentialism
• Jacques Lacan
• Roland Barthes
• Nobel Lectures by Writers
• Bertrand Russell
• Oxford Philosophy Lectures

Receive our newsletter!

Open Culture scours the web for the best educational media. We find the free courses and audio books you need, the language lessons & educational videos you want, and plenty of enlightenment in between.

Great Recordings

• T.S. Eliot Reads Waste Land
• Sylvia Plath - Ariel
• Joyce Reads Ulysses
• Joyce - Finnegans Wake
• Patti Smith Reads Virginia Woolf
• Albert Einstein
• Charles Bukowski
• Bill Murray
• Fitzgerald Reads Shakespeare
• William Faulkner
• Flannery O'Connor
• Tolkien - The Hobbit
• Allen Ginsberg - Howl
• Dylan Thomas
• Anne Sexton
• John Cheever
• David Foster Wallace

Book Lists By

• Neil deGrasse Tyson
• Ernest Hemingway
• F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Allen Ginsberg
• Patti Smith
• Henry Miller
• Christopher Hitchens
• Joseph Brodsky
• Donald Barthelme
• David Bowie
• Samuel Beckett
• Art Garfunkel
• Marilyn Monroe
• Picks by Female Creatives
• Zadie Smith & Gary Shteyngart
• Lynda Barry

Favorite Movies

• Kurosawa's 100
• David Lynch
• Werner Herzog
• Woody Allen
• Wes Anderson
• Luis Buñuel
• Roger Ebert
• Susan Sontag
• Scorsese Foreign Films
• Philosophy Films
• February 2024
• January 2024
• December 2023
• November 2023
• October 2023
• September 2023
• August 2023
• February 2023
• January 2023
• December 2022
• November 2022
• October 2022
• September 2022
• August 2022
• February 2022
• January 2022
• December 2021
• November 2021
• October 2021
• September 2021
• August 2021
• February 2021
• January 2021
• December 2020
• November 2020
• October 2020
• September 2020
• August 2020
• February 2020
• January 2020
• December 2019
• November 2019
• October 2019
• September 2019
• August 2019
• February 2019
• January 2019
• December 2018
• November 2018
• October 2018
• September 2018
• August 2018
• February 2018
• January 2018
• December 2017
• November 2017
• October 2017
• September 2017
• August 2017
• February 2017
• January 2017
• December 2016
• November 2016
• October 2016
• September 2016
• August 2016
• February 2016
• January 2016
• December 2015
• November 2015
• October 2015
• September 2015
• August 2015
• February 2015
• January 2015
• December 2014
• November 2014
• October 2014
• September 2014
• August 2014
• February 2014
• January 2014
• December 2013
• November 2013
• October 2013
• September 2013
• August 2013
• February 2013
• January 2013
• December 2012
• November 2012
• October 2012
• September 2012
• August 2012
• February 2012
• January 2012
• December 2011
• November 2011
• October 2011
• September 2011
• August 2011
• February 2011
• January 2011
• December 2010
• November 2010
• October 2010
• September 2010
• August 2010
• February 2010
• January 2010
• December 2009
• November 2009
• October 2009
• September 2009
• August 2009
• February 2009
• January 2009
• December 2008
• November 2008
• October 2008
• September 2008
• August 2008
• February 2008
• January 2008
• December 2007
• November 2007
• October 2007
• September 2007
• August 2007
• February 2007
• January 2007
• December 2006
• November 2006
• October 2006
• September 2006

©2006-2024 Open Culture, LLC. All rights reserved.

• Advertise with Us
• Copyright Policy
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use

• New Account / View Pricing
• 360° Video Gallery
• Editors' Picks
• 360° Stereoscopic Panoramas
• EARN $ FROM YOUR WORK
• FREE RESEARCH

This Lightbox is empty

• Normal View
• Fisheye View
• Architectural View
• Stereographic View
• Little Planet View
• Panini View

View Photographer's Profile

• More from author

Istanbul (historically Byzantium and later Constantinople; see the other names of Istanbul) is the largest city of Turkey and the third largest city in the world. The city covers 27 districts of the Istanbul province.It is located on the Bosphorus Strait and encompasses the natural harbor known as the Golden Horn, in the northwest of the country. It extends both on the European (Thrace) and on the Asian (Anatolia) side of the Bosphorus, and is thereby the only metropolis in the world which is situated on two continents. In its long history, Istanbul served as the capital city of the Roman Empire (330–395), the East Roman (Byzantine) Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). The city was chosen as joint European Capital of Culture for 2010. The historic areas of Istanbul were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985.

Create your account

Hagia sophia - upper floor 1.

Thanks! Share it with your friends!

You disliked this panorama. Thanks for the feedback!

Report this panorama

Post your comment

what the balls

Amk mach 4k

Hagia Sophia - Internal Left

Hagia Sophia - Mosaic Panel

Hagia Sophia - Stairsic

Hagia Sophia - Exit

Hagia Sophia - Internal Right

Kaaba - Al-Masjid Al-Haram - Mecca

Visit the Mausoleum

Canakkale Martyrs Monument Soldiers 1

Topkapi Palace Panorama - 22

Kaba Top View

Add to playlist

Hagia Sophia - Upper Floor 1...

Post on social media

Ayasofya - Üs Kat 1

Share via Email

Emoji Finder

Stunning 360° Tour Inside Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia (Video)

• Read Later  

The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey, boasts a captivating history. Originally built as a cathedral in 532 AD during the Byzantine Empire , it reigned as the world's largest cathedral for nearly a millennium. Its awe-inspiring dome, designed by Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus, represented architectural brilliance. Now you can see inside with the BBC’s 360° tour.

In 1453, following the Ottoman conquest, the Hagia Sophia was transformed into a mosque , featuring added minarets and Islamic interior modifications. Serving as a significant Islamic religious site for about 500 years, it held profound cultural and spiritual importance. In 1935, under the Republic of Turkey, it was secularized and transitioned into a museum, symbolizing Turkey's secular aspirations and welcoming diverse visitors from across the globe. Nevertheless, on July 24, 2020, a decision was made to revert the Hagia Sophia back into a mosque, sparking debates regarding its historical and cultural significance.

• The Majesty of Mosques: 12 Captivating Photos That Showcase Islamic Architecture
• The Many Incarnations Of Hagia Sophia In Istanbul

Top image: Inside the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. Source: Fernikon / Adobe Stock.

By Robbie Mitchell

I’m a graduate of History and Literature from The University of Manchester in England and a total history geek. Since a young age, I’ve been obsessed with history. The weirder the better. I spend my days working as a freelance... Read More

Related Articles on Ancient-Origins

Hagia Sophia Virtual Field Trip

Virtual Field Trip assignment

Virtual Tours

Virtual Tours of the Hagia Sophia

https://www.touristtube.com/Things-to-do-in-Istanbul/Hagia-Sophia-360

A virtual tour of the Hagia Sophia that is done using panoramic photos of various parts of the structure

• Copy shortlink
• Report this content
• Manage subscriptions

Smithsonian

Inside hagia sophia.

Take a 360 degree tour around the Byzantine landmark that has been preserved for nearly 1500 years

Entrance | Left Corridor 1 | Left Corridor 2 | Right Corridor 1 | Right Corridor 2

Related Articles: A Monumental Struggle to Preserve Hagia Sophia

Engaging Places

Strategies and ideas to connect people with historic places.

Hagia Sophia: An Experiment with Virtual Tours

Warning : this is an experiment in historic site interpretation. Things went wrong but we’re also learning a lot together.

I’ve been working on improving and enhancing the interpretation of historic sites and house museums for decades, plus I’ve also been interested in ways to improve access to these incredible places. If you’ve ever met me at a historic site, you know I take LOTS of photos and share them in my workshops, classes, and in this blog.

Last year, a friend introduced me to the Insta360 One X2 , a small camera with two lenses that captures 360-degree photos and video. It’s popular with skiers, mountain bikers, skateboarders, and other active sport players because it captures everything, which can later be edited to the best views and moments. But how can it be used in the interpretation of historic sites? Is this a low-cost solution to create immersive videos?

I’ve just returned from a vacation in Greece and Turkey, where I visited several museums and historic sites that have long been on my list. As usual, I took lots of photos, including video using an Insta360. Fixed at the end of a yard-long selfie stick, it allowed me to capture drone-like views above the heads of the people around me without interfering with their experiences.

This first video experiment simply stitches four videos together of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul during a daily prayer service. There’s no voice-over or narration as in a traditional tour, just a simple walkthrough with ambient sounds. Remember that it was originally a 360-degree video that was edited to frame the view and add camera movements. I discovered that the video is smudged or blurred at times. I’m not sure if that due to a dirty lens or the low light conditions, but I hid the worst parts with photos from my iPhone (yes, I was juggling two cameras at the same time!).

Take a look at the video and tell me what you think. How might this format enhance the interpretation of historic sites? What are possible next steps?

Share this:

4 thoughts on “ hagia sophia: an experiment with virtual tours ”.

What a treat to experience that kind of virtual tour! A few things that I liked: when you zoomed in so I could see the painting! I can see your editing skills, and I appreciate the time you took to put it together. To me, the textures that I saw in the building were fabulous, and I wished there were zooms of those, too, as they contribute to the ambiance and quality that I suspect the place exudes. There were a few times where there was too much or too quick camera movement for me (and I know that about myself–no IMAX movies for me!) and fortunately I was sitting down. Overall, loved it!

We are starting to use our insta360 for some “tours”. The first couple were just experiments (one yet to be finished ), but we’re now embarked on a more extensive effort. At various points in our historic downtown area, we’ll take 360 shots, allowing folks to “look around” at today’s world. On various buildings in those pictures, we’ll place “hot spots” that can be used to view the individual history of that building (short narrated slide show). That allows the users to participate at whatever level they want. They can choose to look around and investigate any building of interest, but not others. Video doesn’t seem to work in an area quite so large because of the transit times. We’ve made one indoor video, in a library, by placing the camera on a small library cart and having the librarian push the cart around the various sections of the library. That allowed users to look around (pictures or posters on the walls, artifacts on display shelves, etc.), just as they would see if walking through the library . . . very effective! However, they need to have the true immersive playback capability for it to be effective. There are a number of platforms now that offer immersive viewing of 360 degree still images, such as RTV and STQRY. We used RTV to do our local Passport Office https://fusion.realtourvision.com/139488 and a historic house in Everett https://fusion.realtourvision.com/155736 (still awaiting the audio files for most of that). We’re using STQRY for the historic downtown tour, complete with maps, narrated slide shows, then/now sliding pictures, etc.

Thanks for sharing. I think we’re all experimenting with the possibilities now that 360 video has become significantly less expensive.

The Hagia Sophia is one of my favorite buildings in the entire world, so it was like seeing an old friend. I do like the fact that the camera is over the visitors’ heads and I appreciate that view — but at the same time I found myself annoyed by the crowds who were still blocking what I wanted to see. Maybe this perception issue is mine alone, but if I’m doing a virtual tour I want the venue to belong to me.

Comments are closed.

• Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
• Subscribe Subscribed
• Copy shortlink
• Report this content
• View post in Reader
• Manage subscriptions
• Collapse this bar

Self Guided Virtual Tour of Hagia Sophia The Highlights

• Virtual Self-guided Tour for the Hagia Sophia with satellite & street views
• Audio content with engaging & original stories in English
• 10 Points of Interest containing a total of 22 stories
• Offline access
• Hagia Sophia, Sultan Ahmet, Ayasofya Meydanı No:1, 34122 Fatih/İstanbul, Türkiye There is no meeting point. The virtual tour doesn’t require a visit to the site and it is designed to start at the entrance of the Hagia Sophia.
• Wheelchair accessible
• Stroller accessible
• Service animals allowed
• Infant seats available
• Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
• Confirmation will be received at time of booking
• Most travelers can participate
• Non-refundable once activated
• This is a virtual tour for the Hagia Sophia that you can take from the comfort of your home and feel like you were there
• No live guide or meeting point required
• You will receive an email with instructions on how to access your tour via a link. Check your spam folder as well
• No special equipment is needed (i.e. special glasses). However, earphones or headphones are highly recommended to enjoy the experience
• This product can be accessed from any web browser and requires internet connection. The tour is available only online. The virtual tour doesn’t require a visit to the site/venue
• This tour/activity will have a maximum of 99 travelers
• For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start date of the experience.
• Hagia Sophia Mosque

Similar experiences

• You'll start at Hagia Sophia Sultan Ahmet, Ayasofya Meydanı No:1, 34122 Fatih/İstanbul, Türkiye There is no meeting point. The virtual tour doesn’t require a visit to the site and it is designed to start at the entrance of the Hagia Sophia. See address & details
• 1 Hagia Sophia Mosque Stop: 7 minutes See details
• 2 Hagia Sophia Mosque Stop: 7 minutes See details
• 3 Hagia Sophia Mosque Stop: 8 minutes See details
• You'll return to the starting point

• Maggi H 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Trip to Ephesus Amazing place .. outweighed expectations. Very hot day so take cover when you can. Lots of information around and interesting they are still excavating. Read more Written August 25, 2023
• rosiem156 0 contributions 3.0 of 5 bubbles Audio tour? We were unable to hear the audio, so it was a bit of a disappointment. We read the places highlighted instead and that plus the posters and explanations on the aite, helped us get through. Read more Written May 6, 2023
• PavlosBp 0 contributions 5.0 of 5 bubbles Excellent experience! The archaeological site of Ephesus is unique. The audio guide helped me to understand the history of the monument. Read more Written August 31, 2022

More to explore in Istanbul

Buy it with

Self Guided Virtual Tour of Hagia Sophia The Highlights provided by Clio Muse Tours

You Can Hear Hagia Sophia’s Sublime Acoustics Without a Trip to Istanbul

Stanford scientists have digitally created the building’s unique sound, taking listeners back to the Middle Ages

Kat Eschner

Hagia Sophia, a former church and mosque, is an important part of Istanbul’s long history. Who knew its sublime sound could be transferred to Stanford?

Twice in the past few years, Stanford scholars and scientists have worked to digitally recreate the experience of being in Hagia Sophia when it was a medieval church. Collaborating with choral group Cappella Romana, they digitally recreated the former holy building’s acoustics, and performed medieval church music in the university's Bing Concert Hall as if it was Hagia Sophia . Their efforts are part of a multi-year collaboration between departments at Stanford that asks the question: can modern technology help us go back in time?

The “Icons of Sound” project focuses on the interior of Hagia Sophia, using recordings of balloon pops taken in the space and other audio and visual research to  figure out the building’s acoustics by extrapolating from those noises. The scientists used that data to recreate the experience of being there—an experience that has been in some ways timeless for the almost 1,500 years the building has stood. But much has changed for the Hagia Sophia in that time.

In its lifetime, the massive structure, “with its giant buttresses and soaring minarets,” has been the site of what Smithsonian writer Fergus M. Bordewich calls “a cultural collision of epic proportions”. Its name translates from Greek as “Sacred Wisdom,” he writes, and it represents the legacies of “medieval Christianity, the Ottoman Empire, resurgent Islam and modern secular Turkey.”

When it was built in the sixth century (records show it was dedicated on this day in 537), Hagia Sophia was an Orthodox Christian church and the jewel of Constantinople, before it became the greatest religious building of the Ottoman Empire in the fifteenth century, writes Kaya Genç for The Paris Review , and a mosque. In 1935, it was secularized and turned into a museum , although there are calls from nationalist groups to turn it into a fully-functioning mosque once again.

The music that Cappella Romana performs is historical Christian music. Much of their work for the Hagia Sophia project has not been heard in centuries, writes Jason Victor Serinus for Stanford’s events blog. It certainly hasn’t been performed in the former church in all that time.

To recreate the unique sound, performers sang while listening to the simulated acoustics of  Hagia Sophia through earphones. Their singing was then put through the same acoustic simulator and played during the live performance through speakers in the concert hall, as they also sang, making the performance sound like it was taking place in Istanbul at Hagia Sophia.

“Hagia Sophia’s unique acoustics dramatically impacts not just the sound, but the performance itself,” writes the sound company that miked the singers. “Vocalists slow their tempo to work with the nearly 11-second-long reverberation time, while isokratima (the drone chanters) subtly vary their pitch to find building resonances. As a result, to create a virtual performance, the performers must hear the space in real time.”

There’s no substitute for being there, as the saying goes. But since it’s impossible to travel back in time to be present at a tenth-century church service, this is maybe the next best thing.

Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Kat Eschner | | READ MORE

Kat Eschner is a freelance science and culture journalist based in Toronto.

Show all 10 photos

Virtual Hagia Sophia Tour and Hippodrome Area

This tour is a must when you are away from Istanbul. We will visit Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (formerly it was a museum and church) and Hippodrome are during 2 hours. You will listen the Roman and Ottoman Era histories.The Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque / Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi, with its innovative architecture, rich history, religious significance and extraordinary characteristics has been fighting against time for centuries, is the largest Eastern Roman Church in Istanbul.

Europe/Istanbul (UTC +3hs)

Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque

Hagia Sophia church was built during the reign of Emperor Theodosius and burned down in the fire of Nika Revolt in 532 A.D. during the reign of Justinian. The same year Justinian ordered to build a new basilica, the one we can see today, and only five years later, 537 AD, it was opened to the public. The architects of this new basilica were Isidorus from Miletus (Söke) and Anthemious from Tralles (Aydın). The basilica was covered with the magnificient dome 55.60 m high and 30.80 - 31.88 m in diameter, with 40 frame timbers and 107 pillars.

Roman Hippodrome

Istanbul’s Hippodrome served as an ancient racetrack where historical chariot races and athletic competitions were held, and was centrally decorated with the Egyptian Obelisk and other famous columns…

Blue Mosque

The Blue Mosque (Called Sultanahmet Camii in Turkish) is an historical mosque in Istanbul. The mosque is known as the Blue Mosque because of blue tiles surrounding the walls of interior design.Mosque was built between 1609 and 1616 years, during the rule of Ahmed I. just like many other mosques, it also comprises a tomb of the founder, a madrasa and a hospice.Besides still used as a mosque, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque has also become a popular tourist attraction in Istanbul.

Want to personalize this tour?

• Our tours can be customized according to your needs and preferences
• Click below to tell us what you are looking for:

Inclusions & Exclusions

All included

Tour Important Information

Please note that some places are closed because of the pandemic reasons. Also in some part of the places we can not take any video. I will do my best.

Important message from the guide

İ can guide you as much as i can according to your time patience.

Cancellation Policy

• GoWithGuide Find your perfect tour guide at GoWithGuide. Relax and cherish unforgettable tours with loved ones. Create personalized tours for a truly memorable trip! Free cancellation - 48 hours prior to meeting time
• GoWithGuide Find your perfect tour guide at GoWithGuide. Relax and cherish unforgettable tours with loved ones. Create personalized tours for a truly memorable trip! No Refund - less than - 24 hours before the meeting time

More tours by Lütfullah F.

Magics of Istanbul

Welcome to magics of istanbul. today we will see the most visited places in the city. what we have in our program: hagia sophia-the church of divine wisdom is the highlight of this day, the roman / byzantine hippodrome, where the chariot races were organized by the romans and byzantines, blue mosque the only mosque with six minarets, the grand bazaar for demonstration of turkish handicrafts, lunch time and topkapı palace.

Taste The Local Food in A Turkish Way

Tonight is the time that you will try the turkish food in a local way. we will go to different places like locals do.we try simit, turkish alcohol rakı, turkish tea, turkish coffe and more. while you are trying the turkish food you will have the chance liste to different stories about the food.it will be a walking tour..

Shopping in Old Bazaars With Your Local Guide

Shopping in old bazaars always makes you confuse when you try to bargain. as bargaining is a tradition in turkey it is better to go with a professional local guide. firstly we visit grand bazaar and then walk down to spice bazaar which is also called egyptian bazaar..

Two Continents and Bosphorus Excursion

Istanbul is one of the biggest city on the world and it is the only city with two continents. with this excursion you will have the chance to see asia and europe. plus you see the marvellous bosphorus on the boat., popular tours in istanbul.

Must See Places in Istanbul

It's always a good idea to see the highlights of the city during the first day of your visit to istanbul for a good introduction accompanied by the stories of this stunning city blended with history, culture, mythology, geography and cuisine. for someone who is visiting a new city for the first time it's a place people are just passing by. when it comes to the exploring the hidden gems you may need a company..

Top five most visited sites of Istanbul walking private tour

Your walking tour will include the most visited (and most famous) sites of istanbul's historic peninsula. your old istanbul walking tour takes you to the imperial center of the old turkish ottoman turkish empire. visit the blue mosque, beautiful mosque with predominantly blue stained glass windows and tiles, topkapı palace where you can get good understanding about how the turks ruled and lived, the grand bazaar with more than 4 thousands shops and the relics of the roman (byzantine) empire: ha.

Topkapi Palace and Harem

This tour is for the travellers who want to know topkapi palace deeply with its harem. there has always been two different life in this palace, one for the men of the court which includes sultan, all other politicians, soldiers, enderun students, other one is for women including wives, concubines, daughters of sultan. throughout history very few people entered into harem, this has been the reason of curiosity. we will picture the life in harem together..

• Peloponnese
• Greek Islands
• More Destinations
• Thessaloniki
• Castell de Castelldefels
• Castelldefels
• Liberty Island
• Washington D.C.
• SIngapore city
• Buddha Tooth Relic Temple
• Kristiansand

• Acropolis Hill
• Ancient Agora
• Acropolis Museum
• Temple of Olympian Zeus
• National Archaeological Museum
• Roman Agora
• Athens City Museum
• Athens Olympic Museum
• The National Garden

• Heraklion Archaeological Museum

• Andritsaina

• Missolonghi
• Thermopylae

• Rhodes City Tours
• Grand Master Palace

• The Colosseum
• The Roman Forum
• The Vatican City
• Castel Sant' Angelo
• Saint Peter's Basilica

• Doge's Palace
• Saint Mark's Basilica

• Sempione Park

• The Tower of Pisa

• The Red Light District

• The Alhambra Palace

• Royal Alcazares
• The Seville Cathedral

• Lázaro Galdiano Museum
• Archaeological Museum of Madrid

• Montjuïc Cable Car
• Mirador torre Glòries

• The Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba

• The Mallorca Cathedral

• The Hagia Sophia

• Ephesus Ancient City Tour

• Times Square
• Central Park
• Ellis Island & National Immigration Museum
• Niagara Falls

• Balboa Park

• Star Ferry Pier
• Victoria Peak

• Ruins of St. Paul

• Louvre Museum

• Orange Roman Theatre & Museum

• St. George Castle
• Belem Tower
• Jerónimos Monastery

• Cathedral of Oporto

• Quinta da Regaleira
• The Pena Palace
• Moorish Castle

• Museu Nacional Frei Manuel do Cenáculo

• The Citadel of Qaitbay

• The Hanging Church

• Vajdahunyad Castle

Inclusions and Exclusions

• The Location

Know before you book

Hagia sophia self-guided virtual experience: the highlights.

€  6,99 per person

• Important Information

Experience the Hagia Sophia from the comfort of your home with an engaging self-guided virtual tour narrated in English, from your PC or smartphone browser. It’s so simple! You will receive an email with the tour link and instructions, and in a couple of minutes, you will travel back in time and enjoy a virtual journey from the comfort of your couch!

Through the power of storytelling combined with street and satellite views, you will discover not only historical facts but also unknown stories and tales of ancient and modern times that will amaze your family and friends. The tour’s content is the result of in-depth research, squeezed into brief intriguing stories that will make your virtual visit both engaging and informative. The tour is only available online and you can access it repeatedly anytime.

This is an unmissable opportunity to gain valuable insights into Hagia Sophia and immerse yourself in the surroundings/exhibits in an entirely innovative way.

The Roof, the Roof is on Fire

January 532 was a stormy month for the people of Constantinopolis. Especially for Emperor Justinian, who saw a tense and angry mob revolting against his rule during the most violent events that the city ever faced, the “Nika riots”. The original basilica that Theodosius II had restored was wrapped in flames as hundreds of other buildings all across the city. When the dust settled and Justinian managed to take control again, he commissioned the construction of the colossal Basilica that we see today. It was destined to be a feat of architecture and the most majestic monument of the proto-byzantine period, an era that shaped the future of the Empire.

• Virtual Self-guided Tour for the Hagia Sophia with satellite & street views
• Audio content with engaging & original stories in English
• Transportation
• Offline access

Mandatory items

• Desktop, laptop or smartphone device
• Internet connection

The location

Important information.

• No live guide or meeting point required
• You will receive an email with instructions on how to access your tour via a link. Check your spam folder as well
• No special equipment is needed (i.e. special glasses)
• This product can be accessed from any web browser and requires internet connection

Cancellation Policy : This product cannot be refunded once activated.

There are no reviews yet.

Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.

Other travelers also purchased

Ephesus: E-Ticket with Audio Tour on Your Phone

Hagia Sophia self-guided Virtual Experience: the Wisdom of God

Topkapi Palace: The Cannon Gate

Istanbul City Tour: The Queen of Bosporus

€  9,99

Privacy Overview

Hagia Sophia

Hagia sophia - 3d virtual tour.

Hagia Sophia virtual tours can be started by clicking the preview window or by downloading the stand-alone versions. Just drag the mouse to the direction you want to look. Use the scroll wheel to zoom at the details. Press F9 to get a list of the 3D sites you downloaded (residing in the same directory). To install the listed sites as a screensaver press F5 . Our advise is to install all the sites, including Hagia Sophia , as a screensaver. When the screensaver starts, a random site is chosen and shown around automatically (this gives the impression of looking at a documentary in HD quality). To see the usage of other keys press F1 . Press Ecs to exit.

Panorama shootings for Hagia Sophia were done in the years 2006, 2007 and 2010. Shooting equipment was Nikon D70, D80 and D90 digital camera, 10.5 mm fisheye lens, remote control, panoramic tripod head and a tripod. For Hagia Sophia 480+ pictures were taken. The pictures that are taken for different angles are later combined using a computer to form a full 360 degree panoramic view, surrounding the viewer both horizontally and vertically.

•   Mosque
•   Tomb
•   Palace
•   Museum
•   Bath
•   Castle
•   Tower
•   House
•   Square
•   Park
•   Nature
•   Sacred
•   Ancient
•   Space
•   Other  
•   Country: All   
•   City: All   
•   Türkçe | عربي | English  
•   ?  

© www.3dmekanlar.com

• 360° Romania
• 360° North Cyprus
• 360° Sicily – Italy
• Visit For FREE
• Bucharest Rent
• North Cyprus Rent
• Sicily Rent
• Bucharest Landmarks
• North Cyprus Landmarks
• Sicily Landmarks

Reset Password

↓ 360° VR Ayasofya Istanbul Hagia Sophia Virtual Tour Walk Travel Visit Turkey 5K

Description.

Hagia Sophia (/ˈhɑːɡiə soʊˈfiːə/; from the Greek `Αγία Σοφία, pronounced [haˈʝia soˈfia], “Holy Wisdom”; Latin: Sancta Sophia or Sancta Sapientia; Turkish: Ayasofya) is the former Greek Orthodox Christian patriarchal cathedral, later an Ottoman imperial mosque and now a museum (Ayasofya Müzesi) in Istanbul, Turkey. Built in AD 537 before the Middle Ages, 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[1] and is said to have “changed the history of architecture”.[2]

The Hagia Sophia construction consists of mostly masonry. The structure is composed of brick and mortar joints that are 1.5 times the width of the bricks. The mortar joints are composed of a combination of sand and minute ceramic pieces displaced very evenly throughout the mortar joints. This combination of sand and ceramic pieces could be considered to be the equivalent of modern concrete at the time.[3]

From the date of its construction’s completion in 537 until 1453, it served as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral and the seat of the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople,[4] except between 1204 and 1261, when it was converted by the Fourth Crusaders to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Empire. The building was later converted into an Ottoman mosque from 29 May 1453 until 1931. It was then secularized and opened as a museum on 1 February 1935.[5] It remained the world’s largest cathedral for nearly a thousand years, until Seville Cathedral was completed in 1520.

The current building was constructed as a church between 532 and 537 on the orders of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I and was the third Church of the Holy Wisdom to occupy the site, the prior one having been destroyed by rioters in the Nika riots. It was designed by the Greek geometers Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles.[6] The church was dedicated to the Wisdom of God, the Logos, the second person of the Trinity,[7] its patronal feast taking place on 25 December, the commemoration of the birth of the incarnation of the Logos in Christ.[7] Although sometimes referred to as Sancta Sophia (as though it were named after Sophia the Martyr), sophia being the phonetic spelling in Latin of the Greek word for wisdom, its full name in Greek is Ναός της Αγίας του Θεού Σοφίας, Naos tēs Hagias tou Theou Sophias, “Shrine of the Holy Wisdom of God”.[8][9] The church contained a large collection of relics and featured, among other things, a 15-metre (49 ft) silver iconostasis.[citation needed] The focal point of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly one thousand years, the building witnessed the excommunication of Patriarch Michael I Cerularius officially communicated by Humbert of Silva Candida, the papal envoy of Pope Leo IX in 1054, an act that is commonly considered the start of the East–West Schism.

In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Empire under Mehmed the Conqueror, who ordered this main church of Eastern Orthodox Christianity converted into a mosque. Although some parts of the city of Constantinople had fallen into disrepair, the cathedral had been maintained with funds set aside for this purpose, and the Christian cathedral made a strong impression on the new Ottoman rulers who conceived its conversion.[10][11] The bells, altar, iconostasis, and other relics were destroyed and the mosaics depicting Jesus, his Mother Mary, Christian saints, and angels were also destroyed or plastered over. Islamic features – such as the mihrab (a niche in the wall indicating the direction toward Mecca, for prayer), minbar (pulpit), and four minarets – were added. It remained a mosque until 1931 when it was closed to the public for four years. It was re-opened in 1935 as a museum by the Republic of Turkey. Hagia Sophia was, as of 2014, the second-most visited museum in Turkey, attracting almost 3.3 million visitors annually.[12] According to data released by the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry, Hagia Sophia was Turkey’s most visited tourist attraction in 2015.[13]

From its initial conversion until the construction of the nearby Sultan Ahmed Mosque, aka the Blue Mosque of Istanbul, in 1616, it was the principal mosque of Istanbul. The Byzantine architecture of the Hagia Sophia served as inspiration for many other Ottoman mosques, including the Blue Mosque, the Şehzade Mosque, the Süleymaniye Mosque, the Rüstem Pasha Mosque and the Kılıç Ali Pasha Complex.

SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia

Similar Listings

↓ 360° VR Taksim Square Walk Tour 2020 Istan...

↓ 360° VR Grand Bazaar Virtual Tour Visit Is...

↓ 360° VR Hagia Sophia Ayasofya Αγία Σοφία V...

↓ 360° VR Tomb of Turhan Hatice Sultan Istan...

↓ 360° VR The First Shopping Malls Of World ...

↓ 360° VR Sultan Ahmed Blue Mosque Virtual T...

Property details, property address.

Property Reviews

You need to login in order to post a review, support us on patreon.

Slide On Your Phone Screen!

Travel Now!

Featured Properties

Our 360° Listings

• Accommodation (30)
• Bed & Breakfast (11)
• Boat Rental (2)
• Car Rental (1)
• Food & Drink (6)
• Landmarks (127)
• Shopping (3)
• Wellness (1)

Social Links:

Use the form below to contact us!

Compare Listings

Want to find out more.