Turkey will make it a fee for foreigners to enter the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. This was stated by the Minister of Culture and Tourism of the country Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, the NTV resource reports.

According to him, the fee will be charged from foreign citizens from January 15, 2024. People who come to Sofia as a mosque for divine services will be able, as before, to get there for free. The Minister said that such a step by the government was made on the recommendation of UNESCO in order to prevent conflicts between Turkish citizens coming to worship and foreign citizens coming for tourist purposes.

In July 2020, the Turkish Supreme Court allowed the president to change the museum status of Hagia Sophia to a functioning mosque. At the same time, Christian mosaics on the walls of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul were covered for the first prayer in 86 years in Sofia, held on July 24, 2020. Carpets were also added to the interior of the temple for Muslim worship services.

Hurriyet newspaper previously wrote that during religious services, the faces of Christian saints on the mosaics of the temple can be darkened with special lasers, leaving the remaining elements of the painting in plain sight. The publication noted that frescoes can also be covered with a curtain, however, according to the newspaper, this option was not considered as the main one.

The highest religious body of Turkey pointed out that the presence of Christian mosaics would not prevent prayers from being held in St. Sophia. At the same time, they clarified that for the "serene" prayer of Muslims, the images must be darkened or curtained.