AFP :
Turkey has opened the ancient Chora church, one of Istanbul’s most celebrated Byzantine buildings, to Muslim worshippers after it was used as a museum for more than 70 years, making it the second such major conversion under President Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan, a champion of pious Muslims in Turkey and head of a party with Islamist roots, turned Istanbul’s world-renowned Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque in 2020 in a ceremony attended by tens of thousands of people.
That move was criticised by church leaders and some Western countries, who said reconverting Hagia Sophia risked deepening religious rifts. Erdogan said this was interference in sovereign rights and that he was determined to protect Muslims’ rights.
The original Chora, or Kariye, church dates back to the 4th Century and was turned into a mosque by the Ottomans. It became a museum in 1945 and Erdogan signed an order in 2020 converting it back into a mosque. It reopened on Monday after restoration.
The outer halls were preserved as a museum, with visitors able to view the prized mosaics that dot the ceiling unhindered. Curtains concealed the mosaics in the building’s prayer section, in line with Muslim traditions.
People were seen lifting the coverings to look at the mosaics of Jesus and of Mary with the infant Jesus.