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Hagia Sophia still top tourist attraction
Hagia Sophia still top tourist attraction
Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia Museum remained Turkey’s most visited tourist attraction in 2019, according to data released by the Culture and Tourism Ministry. (Alamy Photo)
In 2019, 3.72 million people visited the Hagia Sophia, originally built as a 6th-century Christian basilica that was converted to an imperial mosque in the 15th century before becoming a museum.
The Hagia Sophia was followed by Konya's Mevlana Museum with 3.46 million visitors and the Pamukkale Hierapolis ancient site with 2.55 million visitors.
The Hagia Sophia was constructed in the sixth century as a church in the Christian Byzantine Empire and was the seat of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Istanbul’s former name.
Islamic minarets were built around its Byzantine dome.
It served as a mosque until after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire when the authorities of the new Turkish Republic ordered it to become a museum in the mid-1930s.
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