The Hagia Sophia. Part 3 - The Galleries

The Hagia Sophia is the most important Byzantine building and so it will take 5 videos to do it justice. This is part 3 where we head up to the galleries to see the Byzantine features which have survived. We'll also get our best views of the dome from up here.

This video is part of a series - 'The History of Byzantium goes to Istanbul.' In 2018 the listeners of the podcast funded a Kickstarter to send me to Istanbul. I documented many of the surviving Byzantine sites and have made videos about them.

#constantinople #justinian #hagia sophia #istanbul #byzantium #byzantine

[serjstol]

Still shut down in summer 2023. Restoration probably means "covering up the mosaics"

[kidmohair]

part 3 down. onto part 4!
magis excelsior!

[dawnhirsh]

It's so sad that the gallery is closed to tourists since Erdogan decided to make it a mosque again. And the marble floors are covered. And because of closures due to prayers, it is a bit difficult to navigate the times to see everything unless you go first thing in the morning. And of course, many mosaics covered.

[ravenfeeder]

How has the reconsecration as a mosque affected what can be seen? Are the mosaics still visible?

[naomi-fmgl]

It's funny how all the videos have 112 likes on them