The Hagia Sofia church has stood defiant for 15 centuries before empires and earthquakes. Built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian in 537AD, it was the centre of that world's worship until Ottoman Turks took the city and converted it into a mosque in 1453. The Ottoman emperor Mehmet the Conqueror gave his soldiers just three days to remove all signs of Christianity from within the magnificent cathedral. Beautiful gold leaf mosaics and the faces of flying angels w...

Incredible Istanbul! 14 million people -10 million tourists - 12000 tour guides - 3000 mosques. Islam has been the religious and cultural faith and force in Anatolia (Turkey from 1923) since the capture of Constantinople in 1453 by the Ottoman conqueror Mehmet the 2nd. Once the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and the centre of Byzantine Christianity, minaret spires not steeples now dominate the skyline of the city built on seven hills; the only city built on ...

A gay marriage bill passed its final hurdle late last night in the House of Lords. During the debate, Sir Gerald Howarth warned people who do not agree with gay weddings could feel inhibited from expressing their true opinions that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. 'It's going to be very interesting to see what happens to teachers. How many teachers will feel able to express their views for fear of upsetting their political masters and might lose th...

You might think I'm referring to the drama of Ashes cricket - the heroics of Sir Ashton Agar and the heartbreak of Brad Haddin in the first test. What a game! It's not easy being in London after a loss like that. However I'm referring to different ashes and to a real Sir; not to cricket but to a cathedral - Sir Christopher Wren's St Paul's in Trafalgar Square. The masterpiece of Britain's most famous architect, the present church was built between 1675 and 1710, ...

France is a religious enigma! Every day of the French calendar is connected to a Roman Catholic saint. Thursday was Saint Benoit's day. Yesterday belongs to Saint Olivier. We walked along Saint Michael's Boulevard browsing the historic Latin Quarter. So many saints for so many streets! Yet when our host Jany Chassatte detoured down a side street in District 6 near the Luxembourg Gardens to take us to the building where her family gathers together with 150 evange...