Hagia Sophia

No matter how many years have passed, Hagia Sophia continues to surprise us. According to statements by Turkish Philosophy professor at the University of Istanbul Ferhat Aslan, everything you know about the church will change. In an interview with Turkish newspaper...

German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung refers to Thessaloniki's renovated waterfront, noting that the city's inhabitants are re-learning their city and falling in love with it again. More than three kilometers of waterfront is now available for strolls, jogging, biking and a...

"Let's see if we can fill up the Blue Mosque first, before Hagia Sophia," stated the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, giving a diplomatic answer to those who want to see the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Erdogan attended...

The recent prayers of Islamists in front of Hagia Sophia, as regards to turning the monument into a mosque, once again provoked anger expressed in the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, against the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The journalist, Nuray Mert,...

Protesters pray in front of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey, early Saturday, to show their support that it be converted into a mosque. Built in 537 by Byzantine Emperor Justinian whose rule stretched from Spain to the Middle East,...

May 29 marks the 561st anniversary since the Fall of Constantinople, which was the result of the siege of the Byzantine capital by the Ottoman army led by Sultan Mehmed II, while the city was being ruled by Emperor...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is reported to be furious over the statements of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the prospects of turning the former Greek Orthodox church of Hagia Sophia, located in Istanbul, Turkey, into a mosque. According...

According to Turkish media, on May 29 the country’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan will attend a symbolic prayer in the orthodox temple of Hagia Sophia, in light of the anniversary of the seige of Constantinople by the Ottomans. The...

The well-known Turkish journalist, Hıncal Uluç, citing years of intensive research by Turkish historian Radi Dikici, claims that the true cross of Jesus Christ is hidden within the church of Hagia Sophia, in Istanbul.  According to Dikici, an eminent Turkish byzantinologists and...

Data from Turkey's Culture and Tourism Ministry ranks Istanbul's Hagia Sophia as the country's second-most-visited monument this year, at a time when Turkish nationalists seek to turn this great monument of Christianity into a mosque. Topkapı Palace is Turkey most-visited monument, attracting 796,588 visitors, or 20% of...