First Friday prayer today in St. Sophia. ErdoÄ?an: Ã?Realized my greatest dreamÃ?

The first Friday prayer was held today, after 86 years, at the Hagia Sophia basilica in Istanbul, converted into a mosque at the behest of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Since 1934, in fact, St. Sophia had become a museum thanks to the founder of today’s Turkey Kemal Atatürk.

Since the early morning hours, numerous Muslim worshippers have been arriving in the area of the basilica, which had already been closed to traffic since last night, and on the occasion of the first Islamic prayer in many years, a plaque in Turkish, Arabic and English was unveiled on which it reads “The Great Mosque of Hagia Sophia.”

Erdogan said he had realized his greatest dream, converting the basilica that for more than nine hundred years was Christian, later a mosque with the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and finally a museum since 1934, into a mosque.
During the prayer, in fact, the conquest of Constantinople was re-enacted, following which the basilica became a mosque.

About 1,000 people were allowed inside the building as a result of health emergency restrictions, but outside, the entire area was prepared to accommodate the faithful. Too many worshippers came to the basilica in a few hours and no more entrances were allowed.

The Friday prayer was held in the presence of Ali Erbas, head of the Presidency for Religious Affairs (Diyanet), top government officials and Turkish President Erdogan.

Image: the basilica of St. Sophia. Ph. Credit Adli Wahid

First Friday prayer today in St. Sophia. Erdoğan: ÂRealized my greatest dreamÂ

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