ICOM and ICOMOS Joint Statement 
on Hagia Sophia (Istanbul, Turkey)

Dal sito di ICOM International

Along with the international community, ICOM and ICOMOS jointly express their concerns regarding the decision by the Turkish authorities to reverse the status of Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque, and the repercussions this may have in terms of the conservation and accessibility of this outstanding artistic and cultural heritage.

Since 1934, Hagia Sophia has been a museum, a decision motivated as a symbolic gesture to openly present to the public the spectacular multilayered cultural richness of this monument. The Turkish people and tourists from all over the world have since then had the opportunity to visit this architectural masterpiece and contemplate its stunning works of art of the Byzantine and Ottoman periods, an intercultural exchange inscribed in the museum’s DNA.

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