Aug. 22, 2020
The Turkish government formally converted a former Byzantine church into a mosque on Friday, a move that came a month after it drew praise from the faithful and international opposition for similarly turning Istanbul’s landmark Hagia Sophia into a Muslim house of prayer.
A decision by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, published in the country’s Official Gazette, said Istanbul’s Church of St. Saviour in Chora, known as Kariye in Turkish, was handed to Turkey’s religious authority, which would open up the structure for Muslim prayers.
Like the Hagia Sophia, which was a church for centuries and then a mosque for centuries more, had operated as a museum for decades before Erdogan ordered it restored as a mosque. It was not immediately known when the first prayers would be held there.
The church, situated near the ancient city walls, is famed for its elaborate mosaics and frescoes. It dates to the 4th century, although the edifice took on its current form in the 11th-12th centuries.
The structure served as a mosque during the Ottoman era before being transformed into a museum in 1945. A court decision last year cancelled the building’s status as a museum, paving the way for Friday’s decision.
Read more at https://www.euronews.com/2020/08/21/istanbul-turkey-is-converting-another-former-byzantine-church-into-a-mosque
