The Hagia Sophia is a super famous building in Istanbul. Officially, at least according to the Turkish government, it is a museum. But it was originally built as a church and then was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453. So what is it? Church, mosque, or museum?
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Thumbnail photo credit: Arild Vågen
Sources: Erdogan and converting back to mosque: ;
Structural integrity of Hagia Sophia including Rob Ousterhout and Stephen Kelley quotes:
Bissera Pentcheva, Hagia Sophia: Sound, Space, and Spirit in Byzantium (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2017)
Eve Avdoulos, "Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia: Challenges of Managing Sacred Places"
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