The entrance to Hagia Sophia, in Istanbul, now becomes a fee for tourists who want to visit the mezzanine floor of the building where it is possible to see the well-known mosaics from the Byzantine era. The area of the gallery is open to the public after several years of restoration work, and the cost of the entrance fee for foreign tourists who want to visit the area, where most of the mosaics are located, is 25 euros, according to the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism. It is unclear whether it will be possible for tourists to visit the ground floor of the building where Muslim worshippers have been going to pray since Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque in 2020 by decision of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985 and one of the most famous symbols of Istanbul, Hagia Sophia was built in the sixth century as a Christian Basilica and converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, while since the 30s of the twentieth century it has become a museum open to all, where for decades it was possible to admire the symbols of Muslim Christian art in a single building. The decision to convert the building into a mosque in 2020 led to the covering, with cloths, of some Byzantine mosaics that are located in the apse area while the gallery remained closed to visits and the entrance to the building was free for both worshippers and tourists. Since it was converted into a mosque in July 2020, more than 21 million people have visited Hagia Sophia.
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