Byzantine emperor Justinian I lays the foundation stone of a new Orthodox Christian basilica in Constantinople – the Hagia Sophia.

List of Byzantine emperors

The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised sovereign authority are included, to the exclusion of junior…

Justinian I

Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565 AD

Justinian I, also known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Roman emperor from 527 to 565.

Eastern Orthodox Church

Second-largest Christian church

The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is one of the three major doctrinal and jurisdictional groups of Christianity, with approximately 230 million baptised members. It…

Basilica

Type of building in classical and church architecture

In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name to the basilica architectural…

Constantinople

Capital of the Eastern Roman and Ottoman empires

Constantinople was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman, Byzantine, Latin and Ottoman empires between its consecration in 330 and 1930, when it was renamed Istanbul. Initially as New Rome, Constantinople was founded in 324 during the…

Hagia Sophia

Mosque and former church in Istanbul, Turkey

Hagia Sophia, officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, is a mosque and former museum and church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively erected on the site by the Eastern Roman Empire, it was…

February 23

Day of the year

February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 311 days remain until the end of the year.