2 ms·

I've been several times over the last decade, and you've missed the most recent changes: As of my last trip a couple weeks ago it's now pretty heavily leaned in

I've been several times over the last decade, and you've missed the most recent changes: As of my last trip a couple weeks ago it's now pretty heavily leaned into the mosque angle, with you having to take off your shoes to enter just like any other mosque, and they also covered up the stucco depictions of humans inside with large tapestries. It's still aggressively available to the public, but you're not going to see much of the pre-Ottoman era inside.

ChainOfFools 3y ago
It sounds like I did miss quite a lot of change, as of 2016 or 2017 I could still walk around pretty much anywhere on both levels and all of the main frescoes were still exposed (although a lot of material was still covered under plaster ... ostensibly for preservation). there was an minbar bar in the apse but it was skewed at an odd angle in a way that looked like it hadnt been used in quite a long time. Did they cover up the frescoes in the pendentives of the main dome that depict the (very much non-human looking) seraphim?
- mighmi 3y ago
  > as of 2016 or 2017 They converted it to a mosque in 2020.