Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the decision after a court annulled the site's museum status. Built 1,500 years ago as an Orthodox Christian cathedral, Hagia Sophia was converted ...

Tourists flock en masse to the Hagia Sophia for its stunning architecture, glorious interior views and historical significance. Built between 532 and 537, the building was a church for nearly a ...

A woman poses for a selfie in front of Hagia Sophia, or Ayasofya-i Kebir Camii, which the Turkish president declared to be open to Muslim worship after a court ruling, in Istanbul, Turkey ...

Visiting a mosque is not unlike visiting a cathedral, a synagogue, or any other place of worship. As long as you’re ...

Turkey's Hagia Sophia will open to visitors outside prayer times and its Christian icons will remain, religious officials said on Tuesday, after a court ruling paved the way for it to become a mosque.

The Turkish Ministry of Culture is undertaking a cleaning program of the underground spaces of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, aiming to make them accessible to the public. The project includes the ...

The World Council of Churches has called on Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to reverse his decision to turn the celebrated Hagia Sophia museum back into a mosque. In a letter to Mr Erdogan ...

Pope Francis on Sunday joined an international chorus of condemnation of Turkey's decision to convert Istanbul's iconic Hagia Sophia landmark back into a mosque. “I think of Hagia Sophia ...

Sultan Ahmed I was determined to build a mosque that rivaled the nearby Hagia Sophia, and most would agree that he accomplished this task or, at least, came close. Since the early 1600s, the Blue ...

However, the interior is where the church's true ... and turned into a museum by the Republic of Turkey. However, in 2020, Hagia Sophia was reconverted into a mosque by a Turkish court ruling.