Turkey Starts First-Ever Restoration of Historical Hagia Sophia

Date: 14 April 2025 - 22:17

News ID: ۱۳۸۴۶۴

ISTANBUL (Xinhua) – Turkey on Monday started the first-ever comprehensive restoration work on the main dome of Hagia Sophia, one of the most important historical sites in Istanbul.
Without changing or damaging its original structure and decorations, the dome will be reinforced to better withstand earthquakes, Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said on social media platform X.
To ensure that worship and the restoration work continue simultaneously, a steel platform is being constructed on four 43.5-meter-high main columns supporting the dome, Ersoy said.
Hasan Firat Diker, an academic involved in the restoration work, told Xinhua that the lead covering of the dome will be removed in the process for assessing structural issues in its masonry.
The connections between the main dome and its surrounding semi-domes will also be examined, based on which “the most accurate and well-informed reinforcement will be carried out carefully and without haste,” Diker said.
This restoration is part of a larger 50-year project, which was initiated in 2023 by the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry to “eliminate the centuries-old fatigue” of the 1,500-year-old Hagia Sophia.
The building, which initially served as a cathedral and later as an Ottoman imperial mosque, reopened as a museum in 1935, unveiling some unique features of Ottoman and Byzantine art. It was turned into a mosque again in 2020.
Enlisted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, Hagia Sophia is one of the most popular tourist spots in Turkey.
The main dome, measuring some 31 meters in diameter and 56 meters in height, is renowned for its grandeur and ingenious design.