|  MODERN WONDERS  It is one of the Medieval Wonders to have found a place among the 21 finalists 
        for the Modern Seven Wonders. Hagia Sophia, located in Istanbul, Turkey, 
        and now known as the Ayasofya Museum, was the greatest Christian cathedral 
        of the Middle Ages. It was later converted into an imperial mosque in 
        1453 by the Ottoman Empire, and further into a museum in 1935. For centuries, 
        it stood at the heart of two of the world's great religions. To Christians, 
        it was Hagia Sophia, Church of the Holy Wisdom, mother church of the Orthodox 
        faith and of the old Byzantine Empire. To Muslims, it became Ayasofya 
        Camii, Mosque of Holy Wisdom and Jewel of Istanbul. And for people of 
        all faiths, it was a spectacle of beauty.
 
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        THE BIG DEBATE  
          
            | ANCIENT WONDERS | MEDIEVAL WONDERS |  
            
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