Turkey's Hagia Sophia will open to visitors outside prayer times and its Christian icons will remain, religious officials said on Tuesday, after a court ruling paved the way for it to become a mosque.

The Turkish Ministry of Culture is undertaking a cleaning program of the underground spaces of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, aiming to make them accessible to the public. The project includes the ...

Built by the Romans 1,500 years ago, the Hagia Sophia was the biggest church in the world. No expense was spared: it contained coloured marble from around the Roman Empire and nearly 10,000 square ...