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A restoration campaign at Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia has revealed seven underground tunnel lines thought to be around 1,600 years old, adding a tangible new layer to long-running stories about what lies beneath the famed monument. The tunnels were documented during cleaning and survey work in garden areas around the structure, alongside a hypogeum (an underground burial complex). The find comes as officials stress that the wider conservation program is being run under scientific oversight, with the building’s long-term safety a central aim reports Türkiye Today. A Hidden Network from the Early Byzantine Era Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said the tunnel work forms part of a larger, multi-stage restoration that includes scanning, modelling and careful material analysis