The Hagia Sophia was designated as a mosque in 2020 by Pres. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. As Turkey’s most popular tourist destination, the Hagia Sophia remains open to visitors. The structure was originally built as a Christian church in 532–537 under the direction of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I and today curtains partially conceal the building’s Christian imagery. The Hagia Sophia had also been a mosque after the conquest of Constantinople by Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II—1453 In 1934 the Turkish Republic’s first president, Kemal Atatürk, secularized the building. It was converted into a museum a year later.
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