Pendentives

It combined the traditional design elements of an Orthodox basilica with a large, domed roof, and a semi-domed altar with two narthex (or “porches”). The dome’s supporting arches were covered with mosaics of six winged angels called hexapterygon.

The Hagia Sophia, whose name means “holy wisdom,” is a domed monument originally built as a cathedral in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) in the sixth century A.D. It contains two floors centered on a giant nave that has a great dome ceiling, along with smaller domes, towering above.

Byzantine architecture

Turkey’s Hagia Sophia, which has been in the news recently, is an architectural marvel and one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. It remained the world’s largest cathedral for 1,000 years until the cathedral in Seville, Spain, was completed in 1520.

Turkey is a large, roughly rectangular peninsula that bridges southeastern Europe and Asia. Thrace, the European portion of Turkey comprises 3% of the country and 10% of its population.

Since up to 98 percent of the population are Muslims, Christians are a minority religion in Turkey. Because it is a secular country, the only Muslim country in the world that has no State religion, the Constitution guarantees religious freedom, and tolerance is the rule.

The established presence of Islam in the region that now constitutes modern Turkey dates back to the later half of the 11th century, when the Seljuks started expanding into eastern Anatolia. Most Muslims in Turkey are Sunnis, forming about 85% of the overall Muslim denominations.

Alauddin sent an army commanded by his brother Ulugh Khan and the general Zafar Khan, and this army comprehensively defeated the Mongols, with the capture of 20,000 prisoners, who were put to death.

In 1271 Nogai Khan led a successful raid against the country, which was a vassal of the Golden Horde until the early 14th century. Bulgaria was again raided by the Tatars in 1274, 1280 and 1285. In 1278 and 1279 Tsar Ivailo lead the Bulgarian army and crushed the Mongol raids before being surrounded at Silistra.

The name Tatar first appeared among nomadic tribes living in northeastern Mongolia and the area around Lake Baikal from the 5th century ce. Unlike the Mongols, these peoples spoke a Turkic language, and they may have been related to the Cuman or Kipchak peoples.

‘Mongolian-Bulgar battle’) or the Battle of Kernek was the first battle between Volga Bulgaria and the Mongols, probably one of the first skirmishes or battles the Mongols lost. It took place in autumn 1223, at the southern border of Volga Bulgaria….Battle of Samara Bend.

Mongol Empire