Later in the day, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed an order declaring Hagia Sophia open for Muslim worship. Local Orthodox Churches, including the Russian Orthodox Church, voiced their regret ...

Turkey has created a digital twin of Hagia Sophia, in order to rebuild it if it gets destroyed by a catastrophic earthquake ...

Diker noted that a large part of the underground structures of Hagia Sophia is as old as the church itself, with some sections contemporary to the temple, which was constructed from 532 to 537 ...

“The church was meant to embody heaven on earth ... rode triumphantly to the shattered doors of Hagia Sophia. … He declared that it was to be protected and was immediately to become a mosque.

Hagia Sophia was a cathedral for nearly 1,000 years before being converted into a mosque in 1453 and a museum in 1935. Diyanet said in a statement on Tuesday that the Christian icons in Hagia ...

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 ...

The head of Russia’s Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill said he was “deeply concerned” by the moves, describing Hagia Sophia as “one of the greatest monuments of Christian culture.” ...

A magnet for tourists worldwide, the Hagia Sophia was first constructed 1,500 years ago as a cathedral in the Christian Byzantine Empire and it was there they crowned their emperors. It was ...

Hagia Sophia is the former Greek Orthodox Christian patriarchal cathedral built in AD 532-537 in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey). It was turned into an Ottoman imperial mosque in 1453 ...