The Hagia Sophia was officially reclassified as a mosque in 2020 and has remained as a mosque to this day. Muslims were seen performing noon prayer in front of the Hagia Sophia on Aug. 8, 2020.

One of these, Hagia Sophia, is the city’s star attraction. It began life as a Christian church, was converted into a mosque in 1453, to a museum in 1935 and then again to a mosque in 2020.

Turkish President Erdoğan ordered Aug. 21 that Chora Church, a much-visited site in the Fatih district of Istanbul, be turned into a mosque and opened for Muslim worship.

Although it no longer functions as a church, Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, once the patriarchal basilica of the Archdiocese of Constantinople, is enough to knock one’s shoes off.

Turkey’s Hagia Sophia mosque began charging tourists nearly $28 on Monday for entrance to the landmark site. The UNESCO World Heritage site, renowned for its blue-tiled interior, will no longer ...

In the second phase of the restoration works, the facades of Hagia Sophia Mosque, the upper covering, and the Second Bayezid Minaret are in the focus of attention.

Turkey has begun a new phase in sweeping restorations of the nearly 1,500-year-old Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, focusing on preserving the monument's historic domes from the threat of earthquakes.

A mosque with Christian imagery Under the Byzantines, Hagia Sophia became the hub of Orthodox Christianity and the last standing symbol of their empire.

Last Friday, the Turkish Council of State overturned the 1934 ruling that had allowed Hagia Sophia, Istanbul’s soaring cathedral-turned-mosque, to be converted into a museum. Minutes later ...

A Turkish court has paved the way for the government to convert the Hagia Sophia museum, one of Istanbul's most famous landmarks, into a mosque. The Hagia Sofia, a major draw for tourists, has a long ...

The former museum welcomes worshippers for the first time after being turned back into a mosque.