Church of Constantius II are shown in their approximate position as derived from literary sources. Surviving structures are in black. The first church on the site was known as the () because of its size compared to the sizes of the contemporary churches in the city. It was built next to the area where the
Great Palace was being developed. A tradition which is not older than the 7th or 8th century reports that the edifice was built by Constantius' father,
Constantine the Great (). The 12th-century chronicler
Joannes Zonaras reconciles the two opinions, writing that Constantius had repaired the edifice consecrated by
Eusebius of Nicomedia, after it had collapsed. Rowland Mainstone argued the 4th-century church was not yet known as Hagia Sophia. The church is known to have had a timber roof, curtains, columns, and an entrance that faced west. This may mean that it had a U-shaped plan like the basilicas of
San Marcellino e Pietro and
Sant'Agnese fuori le mura in
Rome. According to
Ken Dark and Jan Kostenec, a further remnant of the 4th century basilica may exist in a wall of alternating brick and stone banded masonry immediately to the west of the Justinianic church. The hypogeum was a tomb which may have been part of the 4th-century church or may have been from the pre-Constantinian city of
Byzantium. although there are no artefacts to confirm this. According to Dark and Kostenec, the fire may only have affected the main basilica, leaving the ancillary buildings intact. The
Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, a fifth-century list of monuments, names Hagia Sophia as , while the former cathedral Hagia Irene is referred to as . At the time of Socrates of Constantinople around 440, "both churches [were] enclosed by a single wall and served by the same clergy". The patriarch denied the
Augusta access to the sanctuary of the "Great Church", likely on 15 April 428. The church's main entrance, which may have had gilded doors, faced west, and there was an additional entrance to the east. There was a central
pulpit and likely an upper gallery, possibly employed as a
matroneum (women's section). Justinian appointed two architects, mathematician
Anthemius of Tralles and geometer and engineer
Isidore of Miletus, to design the building. Construction of the church began in 532 during the short tenure of Phocas as
praetorian prefect. According to
John the Lydian, Phocas was responsible for funding the initial construction of the building with 4,000
Roman pounds of gold, but he was dismissed from office in October 532. The white marble
cladding of much of the church, together with
gilding of some parts, would have given Hagia Sophia a shimmering appearance quite different from the brick- and plaster-work of the modern period, and would have significantly increased its visibility from the sea. The construction is described by Procopius in
On Buildings (, ). Columns and other marble elements were imported from throughout the Mediterranean, although the columns were once thought to be
spoils from cities such as Rome and Ephesus. Even though they were made specifically for Hagia Sophia, they vary in size. More than ten thousand people were employed during the construction process. This new church was contemporaneously recognized as a major work of architecture. Outside the church was an elaborate array of monuments around the bronze-plated
Column of Justinian, topped by an equestrian statue of the emperor which dominated the
Augustaeum, the open square outside the church which connected it with the
Great Palace complex through the
Chalke Gate. At the edge of the Augustaeum was the
Milion and the Regia, the first stretch of Constantinople's main thoroughfare, the
Mese. Also facing the Augustaeum were the enormous Constantinian
thermae, the
Baths of Zeuxippus, and the Justinianic civic basilica under which was the vast
cistern known as the
Basilica Cistern. On the opposite side of Hagia Sophia was the former cathedral, Hagia Irene. Procopius lauded the Justinianic building, writing in
De aedificiis: Justinian and
Patriarch Menas inaugurated the new basilica on 27 December 537, 5 years and 10 months after construction started, with much pomp. Hagia Sophia was the seat of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and a principal setting for Byzantine imperial ceremonies, such as
coronations. The basilica offered
sanctuary from persecution to criminals, although there was disagreement about whether Justinian had intended for murderers to be eligible for asylum. of the names Justinian () and Thedora () and their imperial titles "" and "". Earthquakes in 553 and on
557 caused cracks in the main dome and eastern
semi-dome. According to the
Chronicle of
John Malalas, during a subsequent earthquake in 558, the eastern semi-dome collapsed, destroying the
ambon, altar, and
ciborium. The collapse was due mainly to the excessive
bearing load and to the enormous
shear load of the dome, which was too flat. Moreover, Isidorus changed the dome type, erecting a ribbed dome with
pendentives whose diameter was between 32.7 and 33.5 m. This reconstruction, which gave the church its present 6th-century form, was completed in 562. The poet
Paul the Silentiary composed an
ekphrasis, or long visual poem, for the re-dedication of the basilica presided over by
Patriarch Eutychius on 24 December 562. According to the history of the patriarch
Nicephorus I and the chronicler
Theophanes the Confessor, various liturgical vessels of the cathedral were melted down on the order of the emperor
Heraclius () during the
Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628. Theophanes states that these were made into gold and silver coins, and a tribute was paid to the
Avars. On 14 May 626, the
Scholae Palatinae, an elite body of soldiers, protested in Hagia Sophia against a planned increase in bread prices. The Persians under
Shahrbaraz and the Avars together laid the
siege of Constantinople in 626; according to the
Chronicon Paschale, on 2 August 626,
Theodore Syncellus, a
deacon and
presbyter of Hagia Sophia, was among those who negotiated unsuccessfully with the
khagan of the Avars. A
homily, attributed by existing
manuscripts to Theodore Syncellus and possibly delivered on the anniversary of the event, describes the translation of the Virgin's garment and its ceremonial re-translation to Blachernae by the patriarch
Sergius I after the threat had passed. In 726, the emperor
Leo the Isaurian issued a series of edicts against the veneration of images, ordering the army to destroy all icons – ushering in the period of
Byzantine iconoclasm. At that time, all religious pictures and statues were removed from the Hagia Sophia. Following a brief hiatus during the reign of Empress
Irene (797–802), the iconoclasts returned. Emperor
Theophilus () had two-winged bronze doors with his
monograms installed at the southern entrance of the church. The basilica suffered damage, first in a great fire in 859, and again in an earthquake in 869 that caused the collapse of one of the half-domes. Emperor
Basil I ordered repair of the tympanas, arches, and vaults. In his book
De Ceremoniis ("Book of Ceremonies"), the emperor
Constantine VII () wrote a detailed account of the ceremonies held in the Hagia Sophia by the emperor and the patriarch. Early in the 10th century, the pagan ruler of the
Kievan Rus' sent emissaries to his neighbors to learn about Judaism, Islam, and Roman and Orthodox Christianity. After visiting Hagia Sophia his emissaries reported back: "We were led into a place where they serve their God, and we did not know where we were, in heaven or on earth." In the 940s or 950s, probably around 954 or 955, after the
Rus'–Byzantine War of 941 and the death of the
Grand Prince of Kiev,
Igor I (), his widow
Olga of Kiev – regent for her infant son
Sviatoslav I () – visited the emperor Constantine VII and was received as queen of the
Rus' in Constantinople. She was probably baptized in Hagia Sophia's baptistery, taking the name of the reigning
augusta,
Helena Lecapena, and receiving the titles
zōstē patrikía and the styles of
archontissa and
hegemon of the Rus'. The name of this future cathedral of Kiev probably commemorates Olga's baptism. He erected again and reinforced the fallen dome arch, and rebuilt the west side of the dome with 15 dome ribs. The extent of the damage required six years of repair and reconstruction; the church was re-opened on 13 May 994. At the end of the reconstruction, the church's decorations were renovated, including the addition of four immense paintings of cherubs; a new depiction of Christ on the dome; a burial cloth of Christ shown on Fridays, and on the
apse a new depiction of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus, between the apostles Peter and Paul. On the great side arches were painted the prophets and the teachers of the church. A battle ensued in the Augustaion and around the
Milion, during which the defenders fought from the "gallery of the Catechumeneia (also called the Makron)" facing the Augusteion, from which they eventually retreated and took up positions in the exonarthex of Hagia Sophia itself. This was supposed to presage the end of the reign of
Andronicus I Comnenus (). In the
Sack of Constantinople in 1204, the church was further ransacked and desecrated by the Crusaders, as described by Choniates, though he did not witness the events in person. According to his account, Hagia Sophia was stripped of its remaining metal ornaments, its altar was smashed into pieces, and a "woman laden with sins" sang and danced on the
synthronon. He adds that mules and donkeys were brought into the cathedral's sanctuary to carry away the spoils, and that one of them slipped on the marble floor and was accidentally disembowelled, further contaminating the place. Much of the interior was damaged and would not be repaired until its return to Orthodox control in 1261. The sack of Hagia Sophia, and Constantinople in general, remained a sore point in
Catholic–Eastern Orthodox relations. During the
Latin occupation of Constantinople (1204–1261), the church became a Latin Catholic cathedral.
Baldwin I of Constantinople () was crowned emperor on 16 May 1204 in Hagia Sophia in a ceremony which closely followed Byzantine practices.
Enrico Dandolo, the
Doge of
Venice who commanded the sack and invasion of the city in 1204, is buried inside the church, probably in the upper eastern
gallery. In the 19th century, an Italian restoration team placed a
cenotaph marker, frequently mistaken as being a medieval artifact, near the probable location and is still visible. The original tomb was destroyed by the Ottomans during the conversion of the church into a mosque. Upon the capture of Constantinople in 1261 by the
Empire of Nicaea and the emperor
Michael VIII Palaeologus, (), the church was in a dilapidated state. In 1317, emperor
Andronicus II Palaeologus () ordered four new
buttresses () to be built in the eastern and northern parts of the church, financing them with the inheritance of his late wife,
Irene of Montferrat (1314). New cracks developed in the dome after the earthquake of October 1344, and several parts of the building collapsed on 19 May 1346. Repairs by architects
Astras and Peralta began in 1354. On 12 December 1452,
Isidore of Kiev proclaimed in Hagia Sophia the long-anticipated ecclesiastical union between the western Catholic and eastern Orthodox Churches as decided at the
Council of Florence and decreed by the
papal bull Laetentur Caeli, though it would be short-lived. The union was unpopular among the Byzantines, who had already expelled the Patriarch of Constantinople,
Gregory III, for his pro-union stance. A new patriarch was not installed until after the Ottoman conquest. According to the Greek historian
Doukas, the Hagia Sophia was tainted by these Catholic associations, and the anti-union Orthodox faithful avoided the cathedral, considering it to be a haunt of
demons and a "Hellenic" temple of
Roman paganism. Doukas also notes that after the
Laetentur Caeli was proclaimed, the Byzantines dispersed discontentedly to nearby venues where they drank toasts to the
Hodegetria icon, which had, according to late Byzantine tradition, interceded to save them in the former
sieges of Constantinople by the
Avar Khaganate and the
Umayyad Caliphate. According to ''
Nestor Iskander's Tale on the Taking of Tsargrad'', the Hagia Sophia was the focus of an alarming
omen interpreted as the
Holy Spirit abandoning Constantinople on 21 May 1453, in the final days of the Siege of Constantinople. The sky lit up, illuminating the city, and many people gathered and saw on the Church of the Wisdom, at the top of the window, a large flame of fire issuing forth. It encircled the entire neck of the church for a long time. The flame gathered into one; its flame altered, and there was an indescribable light. At once it took to the sky. ... The light itself has gone up to heaven; the gates of heaven were opened; the light was received; and again they were closed. Hagia Sophia is mentioned in a hagiography of uncertain date detailing the life of the Eastern Orthodox saint
Andrew the Fool. The text is self-attributed to Nicephorus, a priest of Hagia Sophia, and contains a description of the
end time in the form of a dialogue, in which the interlocutor, upon being told by the saint that Constantinople will be sunk in a flood and that "the waters as they gush forth will irresistibly deluge her and cover her and surrender her to the terrifying and immense sea of the abyss", says "some people say that the Great Church of God will not be submerged with the city but will be suspended in the air by an invisible power". Despite the ill-repute and empty state of Hagia Sophia after December 1452, Doukas writes that after the Theodosian walls were breached, the Byzantines took refuge there as the Turks advanced through the city. Hagia Sophia itself was looted as the invaders believed it to contain the greatest treasures of the city. Shortly after the defence of the
Walls of Constantinople collapsed and the victorious Ottoman troops entered the city, the pillagers and looters made their way to the Hagia Sophia and battered down its doors before storming inside. However, by the end of the first day, he proclaimed that the looting should cease as he felt profound sadness when he toured the city. Throughout the siege of Constantinople, the trapped people of the city participated in the
Divine Liturgy and the Prayer of the Hours at the Hagia Sophia, and the church was a refuge for many of those who were unable to contribute to the city's defence, including women, children, elderly, the sick and the wounded. The church's priests and religious personnel continued to perform Christian rites, prayers, and ceremonies until they were compelled to stop. Mehmed is reported to have taken a sword to a soldier who tried to pry up one of the paving slabs of the Proconnesian marble floor. As described by Western visitors before 1453, such as the
Córdoban nobleman
Pero Tafur and the
Florentine geographer
Cristoforo Buondelmonti, the church was in a dilapidated state, with several of its doors fallen from their hinges. Mehmed II ordered a renovation of the building. Mehmed attended the first Friday prayer in the mosque on 1 June 1453. Aya Sofya became the first imperial mosque of Istanbul. Most of the existing houses in the city and the area of the future
Topkapı Palace were endowed to the corresponding
waqf. Through the imperial charters of 1520 and 1547, shops and parts of the
Grand Bazaar and other markets were added to the foundation. During the reign of
Selim II (), the building started showing signs of fatigue and was extensively strengthened with the addition of structural supports to its exterior by Ottoman architect
Mimar Sinan, who was also an earthquake engineer. In addition to strengthening the historic Byzantine structure, Sinan built two additional large minarets at the western end of the building, the original sultan's lodge and the
türbe (mausoleum) of Selim II to the southeast of the building in 1576–1577. In order to do that, parts of the Patriarchate at the south corner of the building were pulled down the previous year. His son
Mustafa I () converted the baptistery into his türbe.
Renovation of 1847–1849 , one of eight medallions added in the 19th century The 19th-century restoration of the Hagia Sophia was ordered by Sultan
Abdulmejid I () and completed between 1847 and 1849 by eight hundred workers under the supervision of the
Swiss-Italian architect brothers
Gaspare and Giuseppe Fossati. The brothers consolidated the dome with a restraining iron chain and strengthened the vaults, straightened the columns, and revised the decoration of the exterior and the interior of the building. The mosaics in the upper gallery were exposed and cleaned, although many were recovered "for protection against further damage". Eight new gigantic circular-framed discs or
medallions were hung from the
cornice, on each of the four piers and at either side of the apse and the west doors. These were designed by the calligrapher
Kazasker Mustafa Izzet Efendi and painted with the names of
Allah,
Muhammad, the
Rashidun (the first four caliphs), and the two grandsons of Muhammad. In 1850, the architects Fossati built a new
maqsura or caliphal loge in
Neo-Byzantine columns and an Ottoman–Rococo style marble grille connecting to the royal pavilion behind the mosque. An edition of
lithographs from drawings made during the Fossatis' work on Hagia Sophia was published in
London in 1852, entitled:
Aya Sophia of Constantinople as Recently Restored by Order of H.M. The Sultan Abdulmejid. The anti-occupation
Sultanahmet demonstrations were held next to Hagia Sophia from March to May 1919. In Greece, the 500
drachma banknotes issued in 1923 featured Hagia Sophia.
Museum (1935–2020) In 1935, the first
Turkish President and founder of the Republic of Turkey,
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, transformed the building into a museum. During the Second World War, the minarets of the museum housed
MG 08 machine guns. The carpet and the layer of mortar underneath were removed and marble floor decorations such as the
omphalion appeared for the first time since the
Fossatis' restoration, when the white plaster covering many of the mosaics had been removed. Due to neglect, the condition of the structure continued to deteriorate, prompting the
World Monuments Fund (WMF) to include the Hagia Sophia
in their 1996 and
1998 Watch Lists. The building's copper roof had cracked, causing water to leak down over the fragile frescoes and mosaics. Moisture entered from below as well. Rising
ground water increased the level of humidity within the monument, creating an unstable environment for stone and paint. The WMF secured a series of grants from 1997 to 2002 for the restoration of the dome. The first stage of work involved the structural stabilization and repair of the cracked roof, which was undertaken with the participation of the
Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The second phase, the preservation of the dome's interior, afforded the opportunity to employ and train young Turkish
conservators in the care of mosaics. By 2006, the WMF project was complete, though many areas of Hagia Sophia continue to require significant stability improvement, restoration, and conservation. In 2014, Hagia Sophia was the second most visited museum in Turkey, attracting almost 3.3 million visitors annually. While use of the complex as a place of worship (mosque or church) was strictly prohibited, in 1991 the Turkish government allowed the allocation of a pavilion in the museum complex (
Ayasofya Müzesi Hünkar Kasrı) for use as a prayer room, and, since 2013, two of the museum's minarets had been used for voicing the call to prayer (the
ezan) regularly. In 2015,
Pope Francis publicly acknowledged the
Armenian genocide, which is
officially denied in Turkey. In response, the mufti of Ankara, Mefail Hızlı, said he believed the Pope's remarks would accelerate the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque. On 1 July 2016, Muslim prayers were held again in the Hagia Sophia for the first time in 85 years. That November, a Turkish
NGO, the
Association for the Protection of Historic Monuments and the Environment, filed a lawsuit for converting the museum into a mosque. The court decided it should stay as a 'monument museum'. In October 2016, Turkey's
Directorate of Religious Affairs (
Diyanet) appointed, for the first time in 81 years, a designated
imam, Önder Soy, to the Hagia Sophia mosque. Since then, the adhan has been regularly called out from the Hagia Sophia's minarets five times a day. On 13 May 2017, a large group of people, organized by the Anatolia Youth Association, gathered in front of Hagia Sophia and prayed the morning prayer with a call for the re-conversion of the museum into a mosque. On 21 June 2017 the '''' organized a special programme, broadcast live by state-run television
TRT, which included the recitation of the
Quran and prayers in Hagia Sophia, to mark the
Laylat al-Qadr.
Reversion to mosque (2020–present) Since 2018,
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had talked of reverting the status of the Hagia Sophia back to a mosque, as a populist gesture. On 31 March 2018 Erdoğan recited the first verse of the Quran in the Hagia Sophia, dedicating the prayer to the "souls of all who left us this work as inheritance, especially Istanbul's
conqueror," strengthening the political movement to make the Hagia Sophia a mosque once again. In March 2019, Erdoğan said that he would change the status of Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque, adding that it had been a "very big mistake" to turn it into a museum. As a UNESCO World Heritage site, this change would require approval from UNESCO's
World Heritage Committee. In late 2019 Erdoğan's office took over the administration and upkeep of the nearby
Topkapı Palace Museum, transferring responsibility for the site from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism by presidential decree. In 2020, Turkey's government celebrated the 567th anniversary of the Conquest of Constantinople with an Islamic prayer in Hagia Sophia. In May, during the anniversary events, passages from the Quran were read in the Hagia Sophia. Greece condemned this action, while Turkey in response accused Greece of making "futile and ineffective statements". In June, the head of Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs said that "we would be very happy to open Hagia Sophia for worship" and that if it happened "we will provide our religious services as we do in all our mosques". On 10 July 2020, the decision of the Council of Ministers from 1935 to transform the Hagia Sophia into a museum was annulled by the Council of State, decreeing that Hagia Sophia cannot be used "for any other purpose" than being a mosque and that the Hagia Sophia was property of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Han Foundation. The council reasoned Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II, who conquered Istanbul, deemed the property to be used by the public as a mosque without any fees and was not within the jurisdiction of the Parliament or a ministry council. Despite secular and global criticism, Erdoğan signed a decree annulling the Hagia Sophia's museum status, reverting it to a mosque. The call to prayer was broadcast from the minarets shortly after the announcement of the change and rebroadcast by major Turkish news networks. but the
Peoples' Democratic Party had previously released a statement denouncing the decision, saying "decisions on human heritage cannot be made on the basis of political games played by the government". The
mayor of Istanbul,
Ekrem İmamoğlu, said that he supports the conversion "as long as it benefits Turkey", adding that he felt that Hagia Sophia has been a mosque since 1453.
Ali Babacan attacked the policy of his former ally Erdoğan, saying the Hagia Sophia issue "has come to the agenda now only to cover up other problems".
Orhan Pamuk, Turkish
novelist and
Nobel laureate, publicly denounced the move, saying "Kemal Atatürk changed... Hagia Sophia from a mosque to a museum, honouring all previous Greek Orthodox and Latin Catholic history, making it as a sign of Turkish modern secularism". On 17 July, Erdoğan announced that the first prayers in the Hagia Sophia would be open to between 1,000 and 1,500 worshippers, stating that Turkey had
sovereign power over Hagia Sophia and was not obligated to bend to international opinion. While the Hagia Sophia has now been rehallowed as a mosque, certain areas remains open for visitors outside of prayer times. Most of the ground floor remains restricted to worshipers, however the
upper galleries were reopened to visitors in 2024. Women visitors are required to wear headscarfs to enter. but starting from 15 January 2024, foreign nationals have to pay an entrance fee. On 22 July, a turquoise-coloured carpet was laid to prepare the mosque for worshippers. It is the fourth Byzantine church converted from museum to a mosque during Erdoğan's rule. Days before the final decision on the conversion was made, Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew I of Constantinople stated in a sermon that "the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque would disappoint millions of Christians around the world". The proposed conversion was decried by other Orthodox Christian leaders, the
Russian Orthodox Church's
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow stating that "a threat to Hagia Sophia [wa]s a threat to all of Christian civilization". Following the Turkish government's decision, UNESCO announced it "deeply regret[ted]" the conversion "made without prior discussion", and asked Turkey to "open a dialogue without delay", stating that the lack of negotiation was "regrettable". At the recitation of the Sunday
Angelus prayer at
St Peter's Square on 12 July Pope Francis said, "My thoughts go to Istanbul. I think of Santa Sophia and I am very pained" (). (), the last
Ottoman caliph, passing Hagia Sophia on the way to his coronation.
Josep Borrell, the
European Union's
High Representative for Foreign Affairs and
Vice-President of the European Commission, released a statement calling the decisions by the Council of State and Erdoğan "regrettable" and pointing out that "as a founding member of the
Alliance of Civilisations, Turkey has committed to the promotion of inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue and to fostering of tolerance and co-existence." According to Borrell, the
European Union member states' twenty-seven foreign ministers "condemned the Turkish decision to convert such an emblematic monument as the Hagia Sophia" at meeting on 13 July, saying it "will inevitably fuel the mistrust, promote renewed division between religious communities and undermine our efforts at dialog and cooperation" and that "there was a broad support to call on the Turkish authorities to urgently reconsider and reverse this decision".
Greece denounced the conversion and considered it a breach of the UNESCO World Heritage titling. Greece and
Cyprus called for EU sanctions on Turkey.
Morgan Ortagus, the
spokesperson for the United States Department of State, noted: "We are disappointed by the decision by the government of Turkey to change the status of the Hagia Sophia." In
East Jerusalem, a protest was held outside the Turkish consulate on 13 July, with the burning of a
Turkish flag and the display of the
Greek flag and
flag of the Greek Orthodox Church.
Ersin Tatar, prime minister of the Turkish Republic of
Northern Cyprus, which is
recognized only by Turkey, welcomed the decision, calling it "sound" and "pleasing".
Sergei Vershinin, deputy foreign minister of Russia, said that the matter was of one of "internal affairs, in which, of course, neither we nor others should interfere." The
Arab Maghreb Union was supportive. Ekrema Sabri, imam of the
al-Aqsa Mosque, and
Ahmed bin Hamad al-Khalili, grand mufti of
Oman, both congratulated Turkey on the move. Pakistani politician
Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi of the
Pakistan Muslim League (Q) welcomed the ruling, claiming it was "not only in accordance with the wishes of the people of Turkey but the entire Muslim world". The
Muslim Judicial Council group in
South Africa praised the move, calling it "a historic turning point". In
Nouakchott, capital of
Mauritania, there were prayers and celebrations topped by the sacrifice of a
camel. On the other hand,
Shawki Allam, grand mufti of
Egypt, ruled that conversion of the Hagia Sophia to a mosque is "impermissible". When Erdoğan announced that the first Muslim prayers would be held inside the building on 24 July, he added that "like all our mosques, the doors of Hagia Sophia will be wide open to locals and foreigners, Muslims and non-Muslims." Presidential spokesman
İbrahim Kalın said that the icons and mosaics of the building would be preserved, and that "in regards to the arguments of secularism, religious tolerance and coexistence, there are more than four hundred churches and synagogues open in Turkey today." The Turkish foreign minister,
Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, told
TRT Haber on 13 July that the government was surprised at the reaction of UNESCO, saying that "We have to protect our ancestors' heritage. The function can be this way or that way – it does not matter". On 14 July the prime minister of Greece,
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said his government was "considering its response at all levels" to what he called Turkey's "unnecessary, petty initiative", and that "with this backward action, Turkey is opting to sever links with
western world and its values". In relation to both Hagia Sophia and the
Cyprus–Turkey maritime zones dispute, Mitsotakis called for European sanctions against Turkey, referring to it as "a regional troublemaker, and which is evolving into a threat to the stability of the whole south-east Mediterranean region". Armenia's Foreign Ministry expressed "deep concern" about the move, adding that it brought to a close Hagia Sophia's symbolism of "cooperation and unity of humankind instead of clash of civilizations." Catholicos
Karekin II, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, said the move "violat[ed] the rights of national religious minorities in Turkey."
Sahak II Mashalian, the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople, perceived as loyal to the Turkish government, endorsed the decision to convert the museum into a mosque. He said, "I believe that believers' praying suits better the spirit of the temple instead of curious tourists running around to take pictures." In July 2021, UNESCO asked for an updated report on the state of conservation and expressed "grave concern". There were also some concerns about the future of its World Heritage status. Turkey responded that the changes had "no negative impact" on UNESCO standards and the criticism is "biased and political". ==Architecture==