Pic of the Day: Sept 24

This is the interior of the Haga Sofia.  It is now a museum in Istanbul.  But it was once (and for 500 + years) the largest building in volume in the world.  It was built as the Byzantine center of Orthodox (Eastern Catholic) religion, back when Istanbul was Byzantium and later Constantinople.
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Once taken by the Ottaman Empire, it was converted to a mosque, which is when the calligraphy was added.  In the center of the picture, the steps up to the pulpit (not called a pulpit in Islam, but you know what I mean) is all made from 1 piece of carved marble.
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After World War 1, when Attaturk became the President and modernizer of Turkey, he converted Haga Sofia into a Museum.  It is stunning.