The desecration of Hagia Sophia continues. The 1,400 year old gate through which the Christian Emperor used to enter the Great Church has been vandalized. The security guard for Hagia Sophia claims not to know what happened.
This is exactly the type of thing we all feared would happen. The Erdogan government has demonstrated that it is both too fanatical and incompetent to care for Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia was better off under the secular Turks of the Ministry of Culture.
This is an ominous sign. The future of Byzantine iconography is in great danger. The Erdogan government promised that the iconography and other Christian symbols would be maintained. This was a lie.
UNESCO and other art historians must demand that Hagia Sophia become a Museum again. Here is one radical thought. The Greek Orthodox Church should speak up on the grounds of moral, spiritual, and cultural principles. Not just for news headlines.
One reply on “Hagia Sophia Diaries 27”
I saw this and I was appalled, but not surprised by the desecration of Hagia Sophia. Erdogan doesn’t care, he has contempt for this Orthodox Christian edifice. Absolutely appalling.