Date of Publication :30th September 2020

Abstract: Hagia Sophia at Istanbul, Turkey uniquely a Byzantine Church built in 537 AD functioned as an Orthodox Cathedral and Roman Cathedral for 900 years till 1453 AD. In 1453, during the invasion of Ottomans, the original place of Constantinople (now Istanbul) fell into the hands of Muslims and Hagia Sophia was converted into a Mosque till 1931 for about 500 years. From 1935 to 2020, the Republic of Turkey transformed this monument to a secular museum, crossing the boundaries of religion and culture and uniting the world for a better humanity. The amazing historical architecture of Hagia Sophia is a monument of unique legacy with universal values of cultural and artistic heritage interacting between Europe and Asia, crossing borders of religion and uniting humanity; this remarkable piece of architecture has changed its functional status of a museum to mosque this July 2020. In this era of universality and secularism, it is important that architecture should cross boundaries of religion and unite as a secular world. But the Turkish authorities have changed its status to a mosque with no regards to its originality and symbolizes the rise of religious chauvinism in the country; this unique monument of Hagia Sophia built originally as Christian Byzantine church, later altered to an Imperial mosque, renewed its function as a museum is now reverted to a mosque.

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