Justinian-era Cathedral! Yeah, well you Christians keep trying to convert my 500-year-old mosque back into a church! Wait, it's neither a church or a mosque -- it's two, two great faiths that go great together! It's a....A museum. In 1935 good ol' Mustafa Kemal and the secular Republic of Turkey put an end to all the bickering about what Ayasofya (aka Hagia Sofia) should rightfully be and declared it a secular museum. So now you can go in and look around without removing your shoes. This enforced secularity of Ayasofya is evidently a big point. Pope John Paul II refrained from making any prayers or religious gestures during his visit and there were worries about whether Benedict would observe the protocol in his recent visit.
Also when the Ottoman conquerers moved in, they plastered over most of the Christian icons to protect them from defacement. In the last century, many of these have been rediscovered and uncovered intact.
Here are some more pictures from Ayasofya.
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