Hagia Sophia
Istanbul is home to a building that is iconic and highly regarded for its architectural and historical relevance to several religions, Hagia Sophia. Built in 532 AD on the orders of Emporer Justinian I of the Byzantine rule, it was the main church for Eastern Orthodox Christianity for about 1000 years.
Ottomans took a different approach after Sultan Mehmed II took over Constantinople on the 1453 and turned it into a mosque while still preserving Byzantine paintings.
In 1935, after the secularization of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk turned it into a museum.
It is enlisted by UNESCO as World Heritage Site. That's why, gets millions of tourists every year and still vividly showcasing complex political and religious history of Turkey, depict the country as a major crossroads between the east and west.
