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Agia Sophia

 
Agia Sophia

Agia Sophia was built by the emperor Justinian I in the year 537 AD. It took six years to build the church. Its architects were Isidoros of Miletus and Anthemios of Tralles, professors of geometry.
At the centre stood the phiale (fountain of purifications) with the well-known inscription that could be read from left to right and from right to left:

NIYONANOMHMATAMHMONANOYIN
which means in English:
"Cleanse our sins, not only our face"

The Church of Agia Sophia, associated with one of the greatest creative ages of man, was also the Cathedral of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople for more than one thousand years. Originally known as the Great Church, because of its large size in comparison with the other churches of the then Christian World, it was later given the name of Agia Sophia, the Holy Wisdom of Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Agia Sophia was converted to a mosque at the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mehmed II in 1453.

Check that you understand what these words mean in this document
Purification: the act of cleaning one’s inside world.
Inscription: a writing on something like a stone.
To be associated with: to be connected with.
To convert: to change into.
Mosque: a church for Muslims.

For further information visit:
http://www.greekmosaics.com/ProdromosDeisi.htm
The Byzantine Monuments