Thousands of Muslim faithful made their way to Istanbul's landmark Hagia Sophia on Friday to take part in the first prayers in 86 years at the structure that once was one of Christendom's most significant cathedrals, then a mosque and museum before its reconversion into a Muslim place of worship.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the inaugural prayers inside the sixth-century monument along with around 500 dignitaries, as he fulfills what he has described as the "dream of our youth" anchored in Turkey's Islamic movement.
Thousands of men and women, including many who traveled from across Turkey, quickly filled specially-designated, segregated areas outside of Hagia Sophia, to be part of the first prayers. Several camped near the structure overnight.
Brushing aside international criticism, Erdoğan issued a decree restoring the iconic building as a mosque earlier this month, shortly after a Turkish high court ruled that the Hagia Sophia had been illegally made into a museum more than eight decades ago. The structure, listed as UNESCO World Heritage site, has since been renamed "The Grand Hagia Sophia Mosque."
Built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 537, Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque with the 1453 Ottoman conquest of Istanbul. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founding leader of the secular Turkish republic converted the structure into a museum in 1934.
Although an annex to the Hagia Sophia, the Sultan's pavilion, has been open to prayers since the 1990s, religious and nationalists group in Turkey have long yearned for the nearly 1,500-year-old edifice, which they regard as the legacy of Ottoman Sultan Mehmet the Conquerer, to be reverted into a mosque.
"This is Hagia Sophia breaking away from its captivity chains. It was the greatest dream of our youth," Erdoğan said last week. "It was the yearning of our people and it has been accomplished." Erdoğan also described its conversion into a museum by the republic's founding leaders as a mistake that is being rectified.
Turkey has vowed to protect Hagia Sophia's artifacts and has said it will remain open to visits by Muslims and non-Muslims outside of prayer hours. The structure's mosaics depicting Christian figures are being covered with sail-like white drapes during the prayers.
