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Events on Sunday 15 February 404 1
360 – 404The first Hagia Sophia -- Constantius IIThe first church on the site of Hagia Sophia is built by Constantius II (son of Constantine) and dedicated on 15 February 360 -- a large timber-roofed basilica. It is burned during riots surrounding the exile of Archbishop John Chrysostom (404). A second church, built by Theodosius II and dedicated in 415, is a five-naved basilica; its entrance steps are still visible in the plaza outside the current building. This second church burns in the Nika Riots of 532, clearing the site for Justinian's masterpiece. Fragments of the Theodosian church -- carved marble doorsteps, column capitals with Theodosian monograms -- survive embedded in later structures.