11 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Hagia Sophia’s Mysterious Underground Tunnels, Vaults, Tombs to Open for Visitors

The Turkish Ministry of Culture is carrying out a cleaning program aimed at opening to the public the underground spaces of the famous Hagia Sophia in İstanbul, one of the world’s famous architectural wonders. This project includes the restoration of tunnels, vaults, corridors, and a three-room underground tomb beneath the historic structure.

These subterranean features served a variety of purposes, from ventilation to storage and even burial. They are interconnected, forming a concealed network described by experts as the “lifelines” of Hagia Sophia.

The “Hypogeum,” a three-room underground tomb four meters below the northeast façade of Hagia Sophia, is one of the most fascinating finds. It was built in the fourth century A.D. before Hagia Sophia was built in the sixth century.

The existence of this particular underground structure was known since 1946, but it had been inundated with four tons of mud and sediments. With the large-scale cleaning works of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2020, rubble and mud were cleaned and its grandeur was revealed.

Over time, it underwent various modifications and was linked to other subterranean facilities through ventilation shafts, making it one of the region’s oldest architectural remnants.

Photo: AA

Dr. Hasan Fırat Diker, of the Hagia Sophia Science Council, said they’ve studied Hagia Sophia’s underground structures for five years. The structures surrounding Hagia Sophia are approximately one kilometer long and the cleaning is expected to last one year.

“This study is very important and valuable in the sense that both existing places can be visited, even if only a part of them, and the findings inside are dealt with sensitivity under the supervision of the Hagia Sophia Museum and those that are revealed can shed light on the history of Istanbul,” Diker said.

He adds that the sections under the arcaded courtyard are as old as Hagia Sophia, meaning they are 1,500 years old and the tomb area is believed to be older than the current structure.

Diker noted the importance of addressing both the superstructure and the infrastructure. “It is pleasing that not only the superstructure but also the infrastructure is being addressed,” he noted.

Cover Image Credit: Mücahit Türetken

Related Articles

Findings showing the connection between Troy and Tavşanlı Höyük have been reached

23 August 2022

23 August 2022

Archaeologists unearthed 4,200-year-old hazelnut remains and marble idols during excavations at Tavşanlı Höyük (Tavsanlı Mound), located in the central Turkish...

Ancient Well Dating Back to 7th Century AD Discovered on Failaka Island

18 March 2025

18 March 2025

An ancient well, dating back to the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods, has been discovered on Failaka Island, providing valuable...

The Oldest Evidence of Stone Blade Production in Southern Arabia: 80,000-Year-Old Stone Blades Discovered

21 February 2025

21 February 2025

An international team of researchers led by Knut Bretzke of Friedrich Schiller University Jena uncovered 80,000-year-old stone blades at the...

New AI Tool ‘Fragmentarium’ Brings Ancient Babylonian Texts Together

6 February 2023

6 February 2023

An artificial intelligence (AI) bot was developed by linguists at the Institute for Assyriology at Ludwig Maximilian University in Germany...

Ancient Agora Discovered in Hyllarima: Shops to Be Excavated in the Heart of the City

29 June 2025

29 June 2025

A major archaeological discovery has been made in the ancient city of Hyllarima in southwestern Türkiye—the city’s central agora has...

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a stone circle in the Castilly Henge, located in Cornwall, England

20 May 2022

20 May 2022

Archaeologists have unearthed a mysterious stone circle at the center of a prehistoric ritual site near Bodmin in Cornwall, located...

Swiss Scientists Identify Arrowhead Made from a Meteoritic Iron

1 August 2023

1 August 2023

In a recent study of archaeological collections in the Lake Biel region in Switzerland, an arrowhead from the Bronze Age,...

Detectorist Finds 2,500-Year-Old Unique Bronze Brooch

26 August 2024

26 August 2024

A metal detectorist, who chose to remain anonymous, uncovered three artifacts, including a massive fibula, i.e. a bronze brooch dating...

Ancient Footprints Offer Evidence Humans Wore Shoes 148,000 Years Ago

12 September 2023

12 September 2023

A new analysis of ancient footprints in South Africa suggests that the humans who made these tracks might have been...

Female pharaoh’s temple reveals teamwork of Egypt’s ‘ancient masters’

18 November 2021

18 November 2021

Despite the widely acknowledged monumentality and durability of ancient Egyptian sculpture, carved reliefs, and paintings the makers of these works...

Archaeologists Uncover lost Indigenous Settlement of Sarabay, Florida

9 June 2021

9 June 2021

The University of North Florida archaeological team is now quite sure that they have uncovered Sarabay, a lost Indigenous northeast...

A 1900-year-old stele was discovered in Turkey’s ancient city of Parion

5 August 2021

5 August 2021

A 1,900-year-old grave stele was found during excavations in Parion, an important ancient port city, near Kemer village in the...

Albastı “A Mother’s Nightmare “

5 February 2021

5 February 2021

Albastı is one of the bad characters in Turkish mythology. The fearful dream of puerperal women and babies, Albastı continues...

Archaeologists Discovered a Fragmentary Inscription in Cypriot Syllabary Found Dating to the Cypro-Archaic Period

1 December 2024

1 December 2024

During excavations at Palaepaphos, located within the municipal boundaries of the modern village of Kouklia-Martsello on the southwest coast of...

Excavations at a 4th millennium BC settlement uncover evidence for the emergence and rejection of the earliest state institutions in Iraq

6 December 2024

6 December 2024

New excavations of the 4th-millennium B.C settlement at the archaeological site of Shakhi Kora, located in the Iraqi Kurdistan region...