The dome of Hagia Sophia is being restored

The dome of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, which is almost one and a half millennia old, is being restored. As the Turkish government's information office announced on Monday, the historic dome is to be structurally reinforced in order to make it earthquake-proof.

After three years of work on the sultan's tombs in the forecourt, the minarets and the façade, the restoration of Hagia Sophia is now entering a new phase. The work will be carried out from the outside and the mosaics inside the dome will not be touched, Professor Ali Gülec from the Scientific Advisory Board for the Restoration of Hagia Sophia told the official news agency Anadolu. The building is to remain open to the public during the restoration work, both for Muslim prayer and religious services as well as for visitors.

Hagia Sophia was built in 537 as the largest church in Christendom at the time. After the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453, it was converted into a mosque and later, during the Turkish Republic, declared a museum by state founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1935. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan turned it back into a mosque in July 2020. The dome in its current form dates back to the year 562. (KNA)