Which empire built the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople during the 6th century?

The Byzantine Empire built the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople during the 6th century.

The present Hagia Sophia was commissioned by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I after an earlier church on the site was destroyed during the Nika riots of 532. The new building was dedicated in 537 and became the cathedral of Constantinople, the Byzantine capital. Its architects were Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus.

The structure was famous for its enormous dome, innovative pendentives, and richly decorated interior. For centuries it was the principal church of the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire. After Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1453, the building became a mosque.

Hagia Sophia was converted into a museum in 1935 and returned to mosque status in 2020. The building is sometimes called Roman because the Byzantine Empire considered itself the continuation of the Roman Empire. “Byzantine Empire” is the conventional modern name for that medieval eastern Roman state.