Istanbul: Places
Photos & Words: Salina Christmas

At one point, the Eastern Church Christians here were iconoclasts.

In 730 AD, Emperor Leo III, rigidly abiding by the ten commandments of the Bible, had all the icons removed in Constantinople. Before he did this, Leo III made sure the patriarch of the city was sacked.

Over a century went by before the icons returned. Icons didn't appear at Hagia Sophia until the Madonna and child were depicted in mosaic in 867 AD.

When the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in late 1453, they made sure the icons were covered up (again) in plaster, wax and paint before converting Hagia Sophia into the Aya Sofia Mosque.