One of the most original architectural achievements of all time—the building dedicated to Holy Wisdom—has graced the skyline of Constantinople, now Istanbul, since the 6th century. Hagia Sophia has had a rich and turbulent history, changing hands between Christians and Muslims and having its doors open to all as a secular building from 1935 to 2020. The recent change in jurisdiction to Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs came on the 126-year anniversary of the 1894 earthquake that greatly damaged the building. Hagia Sophia’s museum status is now reversed, ushering in a new era in which the monument can serve again as a mosque. How the physical building and its exceptional decorations will be transformed in this process remains to be determined.
Full article published on medievalists.net on July 12th, 2020
