{"id":9159,"date":"2024-07-15T11:46:27","date_gmt":"2024-07-15T11:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artoday.net\/?p=9159"},"modified":"2024-07-15T11:46:27","modified_gmt":"2024-07-15T11:46:27","slug":"istanbul-church-reopens-as-mosque-with-medieval-mosaics-and-frescoes-intact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artoday.net\/?p=9159","title":{"rendered":"Istanbul church reopens as mosque with medieval mosaics and frescoes intact"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

ISTANBUL \u2014 When the 11th-century Church of the Holy Sepulchre was ordered to be converted into a mosque in 2020, many feared damage to its ornate interior, which houses some of the world\u2019s finest late Byzantine mosaics and frescoes. After four tense years of waiting while the building was closed for restoration, it reopened on May 6 as the Kariye Mosque, with its precious Christian artworks (except for a few pieces in the central nave, which is reserved for men\u2019s prayer halls and off-limits to non-Muslims and women) once again open to the public.<\/p>\n

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pushed to reopen Chora and the world-famous Hagia Sophia to Muslim prayers after decades as museums. Erdogan has hailed the move as a victory for Muslims around the world and used the Byzantine Empire to disparage his political opponents. The Byzantine Empire was a continuation of the Roman Empire, ruling a vast territory from 330 to 1453, when its capital, Constantinople (formerly Byzantium, now Istanbul), fell to the Ottoman Empire.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
Outside the Kariye Mosque in Istanbul<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cEverything in Istanbul has a Byzantine undertone \u2014 you can\u2019t understand the city without it \u2014 but Byzantium is not always seen as part of Istanbul\u2019s story,\u201d Sedat Bornoval\u0131, an art historian, associate professor of architecture at Istanbul\u2019s Nisantasi University and former president of the Istanbul Tour Guides Association, told reporters. Allergic<\/em>. <\/p>\n