ISTANBUL (Reuters): Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has reconverted the historic Chora Church, one of Istanbul’s most celebrated Byzantine buildings, into a mosque.
The development came a month after Tayyip Erdogan reconverted Istanbul’s renowned Hagia Sophia into a mosque from a museum.
According to a presidential decree, the site has been transferred to the administration of the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) and will be opened for Muslim worship in accordance with Article 35 of the Law on the Establishment and Duties of the Presidency of Religious Affairs.
However, the presidential decree did not inform that when the first Muslim prayers would be held at Chora, or what arrangements would be made for the Christian artworks there.
The Chora Church is located in Istanbul’s Fatih district. The Church of the Holy Saviour was constructed as part of a monastery complex in the fourth century during the Byzantine era.
It was converted into a mosque around 50 years after the Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453. It was changed into a museum by a Council of Ministers’ decree in 1945.
The medieval Church contains 14th-century Byzantine mosaics and frescoes showing scenes from biblical stories. Earlier in 2019, a Turkish court annulled the 1945 government decision converting Chora into a museum run by the Education Ministry.
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