Turkey’s Decision to Turn Hagia Sophia Into a Mosque Dismays Christians, Neighbors, Historians

ISTANBUL—With its large dome and towering minarets, Hagia Sophia is to humanity what the Grand Canyon is to geology: an open up-air e book that concentrates practically 1 and a fifty percent millennia of historical past as the successive coronary heart of Orthodox Christian and Muslim empires, punctuated by ransacking, fires and earthquakes.

But by determining on Friday to completely transform back into a comprehensive-fledged mosque a building that has been a museum considering the fact that the nineteen thirties and has grow to be a highly effective symbol of ecumenical relations, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan despatched…