About
Outside Constantinople, this 6th-century church has the best-preserved collection of Byzantine mosaics.
Having been built in 547, this cathedral is world famous for its Byzantine mosaics. All the mosaics are depicted in the Hellenistic-Roman tradition, with the most renowned mosaic being of the Empress Theodora, born in Cypress in 500. One of the most powerful and influential Roman empresses, Theodora was the wife of Justinian I, who ruled the Roman Empire from Istanbul between 527 and 565.
