After 85 years as a museum (since 1934), the Hagia Sophia will turn into a mosque on July 24, as Turkey’s Cabinet of State repealed the order that turned the building into a museum. With this being the case, some are curious as to what Hagia Sophia’s future will be.
The Turkish government has stated that, although Muslim religious services will resume at the site, it will remain open to visitors of all nationalities and faiths—much like the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which has been an active Catholic church as well as a major tourist attraction and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Erdogan’s spokespeople have also stated that Christian iconography inside the Hagia Sophia will continue to be preserved as it has been since the 1930s.
Some say that this was done in order to make a political statement, and this political move could be compared as to how the building was treated in the past: a place of power.
Know more about the intriguing history of the Hagia Sophia over at Ars Technica.
What are your thoughts about this one?
(Image Credit: Arild Vågen/ Wikimedia Commons)
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"finally" what? Is your comment meant as a support for de-secularization of Turkish culture? Opposition to UNESCO? Or something else?
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finally
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