Doge Dandolo’s tomb

Hagia Sophia started out as a Greek Orthodox church. Then the Fourth Crusade, led by Venetians in 1204, sacked Constantinople and turned it into a Catholic one until the Byzantines returned in 1261. In 1453, the Ottomans turned it into a mosque, which it remained until 1934 when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk ordered it to be turned into a museum. A reminder of the Venetian Crusade, Dandolo, the 41st doge of Venice, is buried here.