Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, which was recently converted into a mosque, will host the first special Tarawih evening prayer during the month of Ramadan tonight for the first time in 88 years.
The holy month for Muslims, Ramadan, will begin tomorrow morning with the first “sahur”, called a rough “pre-dawn meal”, before believers begin daily fasting. The first “taravih” will be performed in all mosques in the country on April 1 in the evening.
Ramadan will last until May 2, when the three-day holiday of Ramadan or Sheker Bayram begins.
Hagia Sophia was turned into a museum in 1934, but regained its status as a mosque on July 24, 2020.
Built in 537 as the largest Christian church in the Eastern Roman Empire, Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque in 1453, after the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul.
In 1985, Hagia Sophia was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The colossal building continues to be open to tourists daily, but subject to the requirements for entrance to mosques in Turkey. Since it was declared a mosque, it remains the most visited tourist site in the country, with more than 4 million people crossing the threshold of the Istanbul symbol.
