Hagia Sophia Museum visiting information.
OPEN EVERYDAY
Summer Schedule- 1 APRİL – 31 OCTOBER
Visiting Hours: 09.00 – 19.00
Hours of Ticket Sale: 18:00
Winter Schedule- 01 NOVEMBER – 31 MARCH
Visiting Hours: 09:00- 17:00
Hours of Ticket Sale: 16:00
Ticket Price: 72 TL
The Museum Pass includes free access to Hagia Sophia.
Hagia Sophia Museum’s visiting hours of winter schedule are 09:00-17:00 with the last entrance time of 16:00. Visiting hours of summer schedule are 09:00-19:00 with the last entrance time of 18:00.
Who can enter for free?
- Turkish children and teenagers 18 years old or younger.
- Foreign children 8 years old or younger .
- Citizens of the Turkish Republic 65 years old or older
- Veterans, spouses and children of martyrs and veterans.
- Handicapped citizens with one attendant.
- Soldiers and non-commissioned officers.
- Owners of ICOMOS, UNESCO and ICOM cards.
- Owners of Press Card.
- Guests and delegations hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism General Directorate of Promotion, and their attendants and foreign tour operators
- Personnel and pensioners of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and their accompanied spouses and children.
- Foreign official guests invited by state institutions and their attendants.
- Professional tourist guides carrying a cockade provided by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
- Within the scope of Lifetime Learning Program, groups and attendant teachers of these groups within the Comenius School Cooperations and Erasmus Student Exchange Program ( Can enter free without showing ID by delivering their contract with cooperate institutions of our country)
The construction of the grand Church of Divine Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) was commissioned by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian and begun in 532 over the foundations of an earlier basilica and completed in 548. This cathedral was considered the greatest Christian church until it was taken by the Turks upon the conquest of Istanbul and converted into a mosque in 1453.Through its almost 1500 years of existence the church has undergone several major catastrophes and several restorations (some catastrophic as well). No matter the changes, the Hagia Sophia (today a museum) still reflects the glory of its long past. Leave yourself enough time to really explore the church and its grounds. Climb up to the balconies and get a closer look at the magnificent dome as you wonder at that ancient technological building feat. The mosaics are superb, as is the step into the past that a visit to the Hagia Sophia affords.