Most urgent is the preservation of its iconic dome, the underside of which is covered in mosaics, making structural intervention especially difficult. Completed in 537 CE, Hagia Sophia was the ...

Turkey's Hagia Sophia will open to visitors outside prayer times and its Christian icons will remain, religious officials said on Tuesday, after a court ruling paved the way for it to become a mosque.

Built between 1550 and 1557 after being commissioned by its namesake, Süleyman I, this grand structure features multiple gardens and a large dome ... others like the Hagia Sophia, meaning ...