Turkiye to charge foreigners entry fee at Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia

Turkiye is to start charging admission fees for Istanbul’s famed Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, following an announcement made by the Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, on Tuesday.

It is understood that the charges will only apply to foreign visitors and fees will be applied, starting 15 January 2024.

During a press conference, Ersoy stated: “With the implementation of the visitor management policy, the quality and security of visits will be enhanced. The influx of visitors will be evenly distributed through different routes.”

“There will be no changes for those visiting the mosque for regular worship purposes. What we are altering is the entrance point for foreign nationals who visit for tourism and cultural reasons,” he explained.

Turkey will charge an entrance fee to foreign citizens who want to visit Hagia Sophia beginning on January 15, Turkish tourism minister announces

The entrance was totally free of charge for everyone since it was reconverted to a mosque in 2020. pic.twitter.com/x3XYPYOvhT

— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) October 31, 2023

Ersoy said the “visitor management plan” is in line with UNESCO’s guidance and is aimed at preserving the Mosque and its Square as World Heritage Sites.

READ: Turkiye’s Hagia Sophia holds first Taraweeh prayers in 88 years

The Minister did not elaborate on how much the admission fee would be or how visitors are to demonstrate the purpose of their visit.

Earlier this year, Istanbul marked the third anniversary of the historic and iconic landmark re-opening as a mosque, after 85 years as a museum, after a top court ruled the change of the site’s status was illegal by the republic’s secular founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Although widely lauded by Muslims around the world, the decision to revert Hagia Sophia to a mosque drew controversy and criticism from Christians over its former and original status as an important church and the epicentre of the Orthodox world for almost a thousand years.

In a September article in Hurriyet, Turkish historian, Ilber Ortayli, warned that the Hagia Sophia is at risk of collapse due to the surge in annual visitors, stating: “The intense visitor situation is unacceptable. It is said that the number of people coming here annually after it was converted into a mosque was three million. This figure does not include tourists.”

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