Part of the current restoration will preserve murals like this.

The BLue Mosque through a tiny open window in Aya Sofya

One of the side dome

From here the scaffolding looked almost like a church itself

The main dome

More patterns

A plan of the some of the main points in the gallery

By this point I was looking for ways to include, not avoid, the scaffolding in my pictures

This isn't a double exposure, but instead seems to be multiple layers of figures

Without the butresses, teh building would not have laste 1500 years

In one of Istanbul's cisterns. It is now a popular tourist attraction.

taking pictures here is a challenge because of the light and dark areas

Why did they decorate the tops of these columns which they knew were going to be under water?

The metel rods are recent and have been added for stability.