Hagia Sophia

Second phase of Hagia Sophia mosque restoration begins with new scaffolding

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.

|ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya), Istanbul, Turkey.
Venizelos Gavrilakis, a senior restorer and conservator from Thessaloniki, Greece, works to clean and restore a 16th century Byzantine Christian icon at a Greek Orthodox church where he set up his laboratory in Istanbul, Turkey January 26, 2021

Greek restorer tends to church artifacts that 'live through centuries'

Since moving from Thessaloniki eight years ago, Gavrilakis, 44, and his colleagues have preserved icons, frescos and paintings in 25 Greek Orthodox churches in the city, he said.

|ByREUTERS
Gli the cat of Hagia Sophia or Ayasofya, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is pictured at Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey July 2, 2020

Greek Orthodox church in US asks UN to censure Turkey over Hagia Sophia

UNESCO World Heritage Site, once a church, then a mosque, then a museum, has again been designated a mosque in a move seen as bolstering President Erdoğan’s flagging support.

|ByKRISTINA JOVANOVSKI/THE MEDIA LINE
WORSHIPPERS TAKE part in afternoon prayers at Hagia Sophia, newly designated a mosque, in Istanbul on July 26

Hagia Sophia museum-to-mosque conversion draws range of reactions

The Hagia Sophia, an architectural masterpiece in Turkey, has been both a church and a mosque over the centuries, but since 1935 it served a strictly secular use as a museum.

|ByPHILIP RAPAPORT/MEDIA LINE

Greece: Turkey being 'petty' over Hagia Sophia

"With this backward action, Turkey is opting to sever links with western world and its values," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.

JULY 14, 2020ByREUTERS
TURKISH PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan originally proposed re-titling Hagia Sophia as a mosque instead of a museum in March, and last month proposed restoring mosque status to the 6th-century landmark.

Turkey to inform UNESCO on Hagia Sophia after converting it back to mosque

The site was inscribed onto UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1985 under Historic Areas of Istanbul, along with other points of significance in the city.

JULY 13, 2020ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
TURKISH PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan originally proposed re-titling Hagia Sophia as a mosque instead of a museum in March, and last month proposed restoring mosque status to the 6th-century landmark.