ISTANBUL, June 27. /TASS/. Turkish historian and professor Ilber Ortayli has called for restricting tourists and worshippers' access to Istanbul's Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (formerly the Church of ...

The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is about to get a makeover. In light of recent earthquakes in Turkey, experts fear the 1,500-year-old mosque is structurally vulnerable, and the Turkish government has ...

Interior of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. Photo: Shutterstock. Some of these subterranean spaces are as ancient as the mosque itself, having been constructed between 523 and 537 C.E.

Türkiye’s iconic Hagia Sophia is to undergo a ... and a protective steel structure will help protect the interior and shield it ... but since 2020 it’s been back in use as a mosque, ...

Hagia Sophia saw 7.7 million visitors stream through its spacious interior last year. Around 2.1 million of them are foreign tourists, many of whom pay 25 euros for an entry ticket, generating ...

Hagia Sophia saw 7.7 million visitors stream through its spacious interior last year. Around 2.1 million of them are foreign tourists, many of whom pay 25 euros for an entry ticket, generating ...

Hagia Sophia saw 7.7 million visitors stream through its spacious interior last year. Around 2.1 million of them are foreign tourists, many of whom pay 25 euros for an entry ticket, generating ...

Hagia Sophia saw 7.7 million visitors stream through its spacious interior last year. Around 2.1 million of them are foreign tourists, many of whom pay 25 euros for an entry ticket, generating ...

Hagia Sophia saw 7.7 million visitors stream through its spacious interior last year. Visitors take photographs of Byzantine mosaics in the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in Istanbul on April 14, 2025 ...

The Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque is a Muslim place of worship — but that is not the reason it attracts so much attention. The European side of Istanbul, Turkey, is seen above.

The Hagia Sophia is at the centre of Turkey's Byzantine, Ottoman and secular history. How did the sixth-century cathedral become a Waqf property, get converted to a museum, and again a mosque?