The court section of Byzantine Greek Orthodox Baptistery at the south west of Hagia Sophia Museum, which has never been opened to visit before is opened to visit on 01.04.2011 by Mr. Ertuğrul Günay, the Minister of Culture.
The Baptistery which had been used for storing lamp oil for a while in Ottoman period was transformed into a tomb for Sultan Mustafa I (1617-1623) and Sultan İbrahim (1640-1648). The huge christening font dated to Early Byzantine Period (4th - 5th century) with the dimension of 3.26 x 2.52 meters was moved to the court section in 1639, which was previously in the main Baptistery. The christening font is known to be the largest one in Orthodox world as Evliya Çelebi mentioned in his itinerary.
All interested visitors are welcome to Hagia Sophia Museum. |
