The Hagia Sophia diaries is a series of entries with commentaries pertaining to the latest developments on the matter of the Great Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.
It appears that UNESCO has sent a request to the Turkish government asking to examine the Churches of Hagia Sophia and the Saviour of Chora. UNESCO officials claim that that they are asking to examine the former Churches because of rumors they have heard “regarding the Christian elements in the building”.
This is actually a positive move because Turkish President Erdogan in the face of international criticism in response to his government’s action in converting Hagia Sophia into a Mosque gave strict assurances that Hagia Sophia would be protected. It will be very good if the experts sent by UNESCO were to actually make an inspection of Hagia Sophia and the Church of the saviour at Chora. It is unlikely that Turkey will not change the Christian character of Hagia Sophia assuming they have not done so already.
There is more hope to be put in the efforts of individuals working for UNESCO who have an expertise on Byzantine art and architecture than on the bureaucrats of UNESCO who failed to protest Turkish actions until it was too late. Putting people in the field who are serious academics and experts is a slight improvement over the efforts that were made by many supporters of Hagia Sophia and Chora toward UNESCO’s diplomats and political representatives who failed miserably to protect Hagia Sophia’s status as a world heritage site.
One one can only hope and pray that the struggle for Hagia Sophia is not over. We will wait and see if UNESCO has any backbone at this late date to actually send real experts on Hagia Sophia into the field to document what has been done.