On Friday, Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan along with thousands of worshippers gathered to pray for the first time in 86 years at the museum turned mosque Hagia Sophia.
The prayers were commemorated after a 16-year legal battle was won in a court ruling stating the Hagia Sophia as the legal property of the Ottoman conqueror, Sultan Mehmet II, who captured Istanbul in 1453 and turned the 900-year-old Christian Byzantine cathedral into a mosque.
During the Muslim prayer, intricate mosaics of the Virgin Mary, baby Jesus, and other Christian symbols were concealed by curtains.
The prayer began with Erdogan reading out a Quran recitation and then an imam saying the formal prayer service at 1.45 pm (1045 GMT).
Erdogan and his top ministers wore white facemasks as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus and knelt on blue carpets for the prayers.
Facilities to broadcast the prayers to the thousands gathered outside Hagia Sophia included a large screen and speakers set up.
Istanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya stated that authorities had to stop people from entering the Hagia Sophia as large crowds gathered, leaving little space for social distancing amid the spread of coronavirus.
The Hagia Sophia is reported to be open for prayers until Saturday morning.
“Like all our mosques, the doors of Hagia Sophia will be open to all, locals and foreigners, Muslims and non-Muslims,” Erdogan had notified the masses during a recent national address.
Turkey has also said Hagia Sophia’s Christian artworks will be protected.