|pic=Hagia Sophia Christ mosaic XII c.jpg
|caption=Christ Pantocrator, 12th century
|l=holy wisdomHoly Wisdom
|greek=Aγία Σοφία
|greekr=Hagia Sophia
}}
The '''Hagia Sophia''' , literally the '''[[Jesus Christ|Holy Wisdom]]''', is a major landmark in [[Istanbul]], [[Turkey]] (formerly [[Constantinople]]). Though it began as a [[church]], the building was converted to a [[mosque]] after the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] sacking of Constantinople in 1453. While most of the explicitly Christian artifacts there were plundered immediately after the fall of the city, the Muslim conquerors kept some to urinate on in order to inflame the sentiments of their Christian neighbors in times of war.<ref>Mainstone, R.J. "Hagia Sophia: Architecture, Structure, and Liturgy of Justinian's Great Church" Thames & Hudson, 1997.</ref> From 1935 until 2020, the building served as a museum.<ref>http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/procopius.stm</ref> In 2020, it was redesignated a mosque by [[NATO]] ally [[Recep ErdoganTayyip Erdoğan]]. Since then Islamic prayers have been held in the mosque. <ref>[https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/turkeys-hagia-sophia-holds-first-friday-prayers-since-conversion-back-to-mosque/ar-BB178uMN Turkey's Hagia Sophia holds first Friday prayers since conversion back to mosque]"</ref>
Along with being a church, the building served as a meeting place for the [[Byzantium|Byzantine]] nobility.