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Why Making Hagia Sophia a Mosque Again Is Good News

Moderates everywhere should welcome the notion that Istanbul’s religious architectural gem is once more a place of spirituality.
By Nathaniel Handy • Jul 14, 2020
Hagia Sophia news, Hagia Sophia, Hagia Sophia Turkey, Hagia Sophia mosque, Hagia Sophia museum, Turkey news, News on Turkey, Turkey, Eastern Orthodox Church, Nathaniel Handy

Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey © Shchipkova Elena

The reaction to the decision by Turkish authorities to turn Hagia Sophia from a museum back into a mosque has been illuminating. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is accused of playing religious politics. If so, he is not alone. When Pope Francis describes himself as “pained” by the news and says his thoughts are with Istanbul, as if some natural disaster had befallen the city, he too is playing religious politics.


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The fact that this building — with one of the largest freestanding domes in the world — has stood the test of time and conflict at all is a miracle. Yet since 1934, it has stood silent, but for the passing voices and feet of tourists, as a museum.

Given its stature as a place of spirituality, this is an astonishing fact. Imagine the Notre Dame in Paris or St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome — or indeed the myriad religious sites built upon older religious sites — spending close to a century as museums.

Western Hypocrisy

Despite this, the media in the West have been almost uniform in their condemnation. UNESCO, which designates the building as a World Heritage Site, has criticized the move. Western media have noted the reaction of liberals in Turkey, lamenting the undermining of the secular state.

The condemnation is, of course, based on a key distinction between Hagia Sophia and the likes of Notre Dame and St. Peter’s Basilica. The distinction — emphasized in almost every media report — is that Hagia Sophia was built in 537 by Justinian as the seat of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the spiritual center of the Byzantine Empire. It only became a mosque in 1453 with the conquest of Constantinople by Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II.

Notre Dame de Paris in France © beboy
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CategoriesCulture, Insight, Middle East & North Africa, Politics, Recep Tayyip Erdogan news, Turkey News, World News TagsEastern Orthodox Church, Hagia Sophia, Hagia Sophia mosque, Hagia Sophia museum, Hagia Sophia news, Hagia Sophia Turkey, Nathaniel Handy, news on Turkey, Turkey, Turkey news
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