Photos: First prayers & opening ceremony at Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque

Thousands gathered on July 24 for the official opening ceremony of the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in Istanbul. After the Council of State, the highest administrative court in the Republic of Turkey on July 10 annulled Hagia Sophia's status as a museum, Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan immediately turned it back into a mosque, which was a Christian Byzantine cathedral for 900 years before being seized by Ottoman conquerors and serving as a mosque until 1934. The president along with several hundred invitees attended the opening ceremony in the sixth-century building while many others offered prayers from outside the mosque.

Updated on: Jul 25, 2020 6:32 PM IST

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A view inside the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque during the official opening ceremony in Istanbul on July 24. Thousands of Turkish nationals gathered at Hagia Sophia early on July 24 for the first Friday prayers there since President Tayyip Erdogan declared the monument, revered by Christians and Muslims for almost 1,500 years, a mosque once again, Reuters reported. (Mustafa Kamaci / Turkish Presidential Press service / AFP)

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Worshippers attend afternoon prayers at Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque on July 24. On July 10, after a top Turkish court annulled Hagia Sophia’s status as a museum, Erdogan immediately turned it back into a mosque, which was a Christian Byzantine cathedral for 900 years before being seized by Ottoman conquerors and serving as a mosque until 1934. (Umit Bektas / REUTERS)

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Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan (C) and invited guests attend Friday prayers at Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque during the official opening ceremony in Istanbul on July 24. During his 17-year rule, Erdogan has championed Islam and religious observance and backed efforts to restore Hagia Sophia’s mosque status. He had raised the issue -- popular with many pious AKP-voting Turks -- during local elections last year, Reuters reported. (Mustafa Kamaci / Turkish Presidential Press service / AFP)

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A worshipper gestures towards the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, during the opening ceremony in Istanbul on July 24. “We are ending our 86 years of longing today,” Sait Colak, a devotee told Reuters, referring to the nearly nine decades since Hagia Sophia was declared a museum and ceased to be a place of worship. (Kerem Uzel / Bloomberg)

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People take pictures inside the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque on July 24. The conversion from a museum to a mosque has triggered fierce criticism from church leaders, who said the conversion to exclusively Muslim worship risked deepening religious divisions. Turkey says the site will remain open for visitors and its Christian artworks protected, Reuters reported. (Omer Kuscu / AP)

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A mosaic covered with a banner hangs over a gate of Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque during the official opening ceremony on July 24. Inside Hagia Sophia, the Christian frescoes and the glittering mosaics adorning the cavernous dome and central hall will be concealed by curtains during Muslim prayer times, but remain on display for the rest of the time. (Ozan Kose / AFP)

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Men take part in the Friday prayer outside the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in Istanbul on July 24. Erdogan has reshaped Turkey’s modern republic, established nearly a century ago by the committed secularist Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, lifting a ban on Muslim headscarves in public, promoting religious education and taming Turkey’s powerful military, once a bastion of Ataturk’s secular values. (Ozan Kose / AFP)