Factbox: How Hagia Sophia's status changed over centuries of history

Friday paryers were held in Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia for the first time since President Tayyip Erdogan declared the building a mosque once again Istanbul: Friday prayers were held at Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia for the first time since President Tayyip Erdogan declared the building a mosque once again. The Ottomans built four minarets, covered Hagia Sophia’s Christian icons and luminous gold mosaics, and installed huge black panels embellished with the names of God, the prophet Mohammad and Muslim caliphs in Arabic calligraphy. In 1934 Turkey’s first president, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, forging a secular republic out of the defeated Ottoman Empire, converted Hagia Sophia into a museum, now visited by millions of tourists every year. A Turkish association which was committed to making Hagia Sophia a mosque again pressed Turkish courts several times in the last 15 years to annul Ataturk’s decree. - In neighbouring Greece, an overwhelmingly Orthodox country, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said: “This is a choice which offends all those who also recognise the monument as a World Heritage Site.” - A spokesman for the US State Department said the United States was disappointed by the decision but looked forward to hearing Turkey’s plans for continued stewardship of the Hagia Sophia to ensure it remains accessible to all.