Pope Francis said that saddened by the decision of the Turkish authorities for the return of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul to the status of the mosque.
Think of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, and I am very saddened, he said in his Sunday sermon in St. Peter’s square.
Earlier, the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a decree on the transformation of Hagia Sophia into a mosque. A picture of his decree, Erdogan has posted on Twitter. The Turkish Council of state cancelled the decree of the government of 1935, in which the Cathedral was given the status of the Museum. Despite the fact that the Cathedral again became a mosque, the Christians will still be allowed to visit him.
Hagia Sophia is located in the historical center of Istanbul. Founded by the Emperor Justinian and opened on the 27th of December in 537, the temple is a symbol of the Golden age of Byzantium. More than a thousand years the Cathedral was the largest Church in the Christian world until the construction of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. The height of St. Sophia Cathedral — 55,6 meters, the diameter of the dome is 31 meters. In 1453, after the capture of the city by the Ottomans, the Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque, and in 1935 it acquired the status of Hagia Sophia. In 1985, the Cathedral among other monuments of the historic centre of Istanbul was included in the UNESCO world heritage site.
Wrote NEWS.ru Turkish authorities are considering the question of holding of Muslim prayers in Hagia Sophia (Aya Sofia) in Istanbul, it is assumed, in particular, the use of special lighting technique in which the Christian mosaics and frescoes are not visible during the prayers.
