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“If It Is Not Closed, It Will Collapse”: Converted Hagia Sophia Is Now Crowded and Crumbling

The Hagia Sophia, Istanbul's iconic cathedral-turned-mosque-turned-museum-turned-mosque, will begin charging foreign tourists an entrance fee starting January 15, 2024, Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced this week.  The 1,500-year-old structure—easily one of the world's most significant architectural landmarks—has been free to enter since 2020, when the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan made…