The Hagia Sophia (in Greek Ἁγία Σοφία) is one of the most famous churches in all of Christendom. Prior to the building of Saint Peters in Rome, it was the Christian church. The current iteration built by the Emperor Justinian in the 7th century served as the center for Christendom until its fall to the Muslim Turks in the 15th century. For 500 years, it served as a mosque until Atatürk turned it into a state museum.
The Hagia Sophia is one of the greatest landmarks in history and merits an extensive visit. In fact, I spent 24 hours on a train from Romania to Istanbul just for the opportunity to walk through its halls and visit its famed dome. However, travel is a bit extensive. Here is an exceptional 3D, interactive tour of the Hagia Sophia. Don’t worry about the Greek on the website (unless you happen to know modern Greek). The information in the tour itself is actually english. You can pan, zoom, turn, examine close-ups, etc. It takes a minute to load, so be patient! If you really enjoy Byzantine history, I highly recommend that you follow @Byzantinephil on Twitter
If you’re interested in other interactive museum exhibits, check out my earlier post: “The Best Online & Interactive Museum Exhibits“
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About Jennifer Lockett
I'm a student of the human condition: history, philosophy, art, and culture. I am a passionate educator. I am a lover of new technologies and its abilities to share knowledge
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Posted by Jennifer Lockett on July 29, 2011 in Archaeology, Biblical Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, History, Museums
Tags: Ancient Rome, Aya Sophia, Byzantine, Byzantium, Christianity, Early Church, Hagia Sophia, History, Rome, http:/
Carol Mortensen on 06 Aug 11History is boring. At least the way we typically teach history is boring. Ask anyone who's been forced to memorize a list of dates and facts and they will tell you that they would rather have open heart surgery than deal with another high school history class. It's unfortunate that so many people have such a negative introduction to such a key subject. History taught well is mind blowing and life changing. It turns out that the same history that puts 9th graders into a comma can also be made into movies that people PAY to see. History experienced instead of memorized changes our perspectives, opens our eyes and helps us avoid the mistakes of our fore-fathers. History teaches us that while people 100 years ago wore different clothes and lacked iPhones they still shared our same basic human thoughts and passions. By giving students the opportunity to see and feel the world through the past hopefully they can plan for the future. TwHistory is about helping students experience a slice of time through the eyes of another person. The aggregate of these personal experiences can then give a unique perspective of an event in history. It's dull to memorize the events of the 13 days of the Cuban Missile Crisis for a pop quiz but it gets your attention when McNamara drops the F-bomb on Twitter because the world is about to end in a big nuclear fireball. We encourage you to help your students live history. Pick an event. Pick a person. Do the research and prepare the Tweets. Then watch history unfold via the most modern of experiences - Twitter. Enjoy TwHistory and contact us if you have any questions or need help.