Turkiye introduces €25 entrance fee for tourists at Hagia Sophia Mosque

Turkiye has started charging tourists €25 (almost $28) to enter Istanbul’s famed Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, The fee was introduced on Monday, following an announcement by the Culture and Tourism Ministry in November.

According to Daily Sabah, the fee is part of a new visitor management policy amid restoration efforts, which will see the separation of those coming for worship and foreigners visiting the former Byzantine cathedral for cultural purposes. It is thought that with the implementation of the new plan, long queues for the historical mosque and former museum will be reduced significantly.

The Turkish newspaper said that entrances will be controlled through the tunnel and entrance ramp under the Bayezid II Minaret on the south facade, and visitors will gain access to the gallery floor. Tourists will be able to see the sanctuary floor of the mosque and the Ottoman-era annexes, and examine the Byzantine-era mosaics.

“Using the QR code system implemented at the mosque, visitors can obtain information in 23 languages by using their mobile phones with headphones or disposable headphones provided, without disturbing those praying,” it added.

The UNESCO World Heritage Site receives around 3.5 million visitors each year, although this has prompted concern from some experts who warn that the surge in visitors poses structural risks to the building. As such, UNESCO recommended that more needs to be done to control visitor numbers, leading to the changes.

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

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