foundation · 537 · Constantinople
On 27 December 537 Justinian consecrated the rebuilt Hagia Sophia — 'Solomon, I have outdone thee.' For nine centuries the Great Church was the largest interior in Christendom: the stage on which patriarchs were made and unmade, icons fell and were restored, and Humbert's bull was laid on the altar in 1054.
The Great Church consecrated — the architectural heart of Orthodox Christendom and the stage of its history to 1054 and beyond.