The Holy Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, in Istanbul, Turkey held first Tarawih prayer after 88 years.
Hagia Sophia mosque was converted into a museum in 1934 and regained its status as a mosque in 2020 after a Turkish top administrative court ruled in favour of reconverting it to its original status.
The court revoked the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia’s status as a museum and ruled the sixth-century building would be reopened to Muslim worship.
Hagia Sophia is the UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the most visited monuments in Turkey. It is a focal point of both the Christian Byzantine and Muslim Ottoman empires.
Hagia Sophia’s status as a museum was approved by modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1934. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had proposed restoring its mosque status.
