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Starting Monday, foreign tourists who want to visit the Temple of Divine Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) in Istanbul will have to pay an entrance fee of 25 euros (about CZK 600). The information was published by the Turkish daily Hürriyet and states that Turks have free entry.
According to the Turkish website, entrances for tourists and religious visitors will also be newly separated. “Tourists can now visit the mosque without disturbing the service. The plan is intended to prevent long queues at the entrance to the historic mosque,” the Turkish Culture Ministry said.
According to the daily Hürriyet, the ministry emphasized that the new measure is aimed at protecting the historical and cultural value of the temple, which has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1985. The office claims that the introduction of the entrance fee is in line with the plan requested by Ankara from the UNESCO organization. When Turkish President Erdogan converted Hagia Sophia into a mosque in 2020, it raised concerns about preserving its original character.
As part of the restoration and protection work, surveillance cameras, fire alarm and emergency notification systems were installed on the tour route near the mosque, the Turkish daily wrote.
The monumental Hagia Sofia was a Christian church for several centuries before being converted into a mosque following the conquest of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) by Ottoman troops in 1453. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the founder of the modern Turkish state, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, turned the temple into a museum in 1935 as part of his secular reforms. But in 2020, President Erdogan signed a decree turning the temple back into a mosque.
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