New discoveries at Hagia Sophia to be shared with scientists via online symposium 

An online symposium on the results of the three-week “3D Scanning and Documentation of Hagia Sophia Underground Structures” project, which was conducted through the collaboration of Fatih Sultan Mehmet Foundation University (FSMVÜ) and the Hagia Sophia Museum Directorate, will be held by FSMVÜ on Sept. 24-25. The "International Hagia Sophia Symposium" can be followed from the International Hagia Sophia Symposium account on YouTube.

With the project, the 900-meter (2,953-foot) underground culverts that have helped ventilate Hagia Sophia since its construction were scanned in 3D for the first time, and scientists were able to document the underground structures that envelop Hagia Sopha like a spider web to protect it from humidity. The data obtained during the project will be shared with other scientists in the latest symposium, which will be held under the direction of associate professor Hasan Fırat Diker, associate professor Mine Esmer, academic Alidost Ertuğrul from FSMVÜ’s Faculty of Architecture and Design, and Ali Hakan Eğilmez, an academic from Istanbul Technical University's (ITÜ) Archaeology Department.

Academicians, researchers and experts from many countries, including Germany, the United States, Japan, Switzerland, Italy and Spain, will attend the symposium, which will include seven sessions. The sessions titles are Hagia Sophia in Archive Documents, Hagia Sophia as the Memory Space of Istanbul, Environmental Research of Conversation Conditions of Hagia Sophia, Stone Artifacts and Inscriptions of Hagia Sophia, Dome and Lightening of Hagia Sophia and Visualization of Underground Structures of Hagia Sophia and Evaluation of Hagia Sophia in Context of Old Manuscripts and Sources.