Hagia Sophia Mosque, Historic Turkish Building, Architect, Church, Date, Design, Location

Hagia Sophia Istanbul Architecture

Historic Museum in Istanbul, Turkey, Eastern Europe – design by Isidore of Miletus & Anthemius of Tralles

11 July 2020

Hagia Sophia Mosque Conversion

World reacts to Turkey reconverting Hagia Sophia into a mosque

Ayasofya Mosque building:

photo by Ray Swi-hymn from Sijhih-Taipei, Taiwan – 20180115_Istanbulwalk_8192, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81394098

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia open to Muslim worship on Friday after a top court ruled the building’s conversion to a museum by modern Turkey’s founding statesman was illegal.

Erdogan made his announcement, just an hour after the court ruling was revealed, despite international warnings not to change the status of the nearly 1,500-year-old monument, revered by Christians and Muslims alike.

photo by Robert Raderschatt – Own work by the original uploader, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=387525

“The decision was taken to hand over the management of the Ayasofya Mosque … to the Religious Affairs Directorate and open it for worship,” the decision signed by Erdogan said.

The UNESCO World Heritage Site in Istanbul, a magnet for tourists worldwide, was first constructed as a cathedral in the Christian Byzantine Empire but was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453.

The court decision was followed quickly by Erdogan saying that the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Istanbul would be reopened for Muslim worship.

Ayasofya Mosque Istanbul building:

photo by Benh LIEU SONG from Torcy, France – Aya Sophia, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79286741

The Council of State, Turkey’s highest administrative court, unanimously cancelled a 1934 cabinet decision and said Hagia Sophia was registered as a mosque in its property deeds.

President Erdogan told a press conference the first Muslim prayers would be held inside the building on 24 July:

“Like all our mosques, the doors of Hagia Sophia will be wide open to locals and foreigners, Muslims and non-Muslims,” he added.

photo by Maksym Kozlenko – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49914684

Previously on e-architect:

Hagia Sophia

Address: Sultan Ahmet Mahallesi, Ayasofya Meydanı, 34122 Fatih/İstanbul, Turkey

Date built: 532-37

Architects: Isidore of Miletus & Anthemius of Tralles

Former patriarchal basilica.

This historic Turkish building was converted into a museum by the Republic of Turkey in 1935

Byzantine architecture for the Eastern Orthodox Church

Largest cathedral in the world for almost a thousand years, until Seville Cathedral in 1520

The Hagia Sophia building was converted into a mosque in 1453 when Constantinople (now Istanbul) was conquered by the Ottoman Turks, with the four minarets being the highest profile addition

This iconic Istanbul building is a great architectural beauty and an important monument both for Byzantine and for Ottoman Empires. Once a church, later a mosque, and now a museum in the Turkish Republic, Hagia Sophia has always been precious.

The mystical city Istanbul hosted many civilizations since centuries, of which Byzantium and Ottoman Empires were both the most famous ones. The city today carries the characteristics of these two different cultures and surely this structure is a perfect synthesis where one can observe both Ottoman and Byzantium effects under one great dome. source: www.hagiasophia.com

Location: Istanbul, Turkey