Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid a surprise visit to Hagia Sophia a few days before the first Muslim prayers are to be held at the iconic site of Istanbul since it was converted into a mosque last week.
In a quick visit announced as an inspection, Erdogan took stock of the conversion work, the president’s office said Sunday, providing images showing scaffolding inside the building.
Diyanet, the country’s religious authority, said the Christian icons would be cut off and turned off “through appropriate means during times of prayer.”
It was unclear whether Erdogan planned to be among the 500 faithful who will attend Friday prayers.
Turkey’s superior court paved the way for conversion in a decision to revoke the museum status of the building conferred almost a century ago.
Erdogan had long requested that Hagia Sophia be converted into a mosque. [Turkish presidency/AFP]
The 6th century building had been open to all visitors, regardless of faith, since it opened as a museum in 1935.
Earlier this week, Diyanet said the building would continue to be open to all visitors outside of prayer hours.
The UNESCO World Heritage site was built as a cathedral during the Byzantine Empire, but was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453.
It was designated a museum in a key reform of the post-Ottoman authorities under the founder of the modern republic Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
Erdogan said last year that it had been a “big mistake” to turn the Hagia Sophia church into a museum.
The reconversion sparked anger among Christians and tensions between historical enemies and troubled NATO allies Turkey and Greece.
.
