St. Sophia, Thessaloniki

The Church of St. Sophia, in central Thessaloniki (the second largest city in Greece), is one of the most important churches in the city. Together with the Church of St. Dimitrios and the Virgin Mary of the Acheiropiitou, they are considered the most important early Christian monuments in Greece and of the Orthodox World. The current Church dates from the 8^th century, taking the place of an early Christian Basilica, which was destroyed, probably due to an earthquake, at the beginning of the 7^th century. In 1204, during the Fourth Crusade, the Church was transformed into the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the city. In 1246, when Thessaloniki returned to the Byzantine Empire, it became the Metropolitan Church of the city, until 1523/24, when it was transformed into a mosque by the Ottoman conquerors. Nevertheless, it became an Orthodox Church again when Macedonia became part of the Modern Greek State.