Hagia Sophia undoubletly is a global cultural monument, served as a church for 916 years, 481 as a mosque and 80 years as a museum.
The mosaic above located at the south entrance of Hagia Sophia.
On the right you can see the Emperor Constantine who decleared Byzantium as the new capital of New Rome later changed to Constantinoples. At the mosaic, he is presenting Constantinoples to Virgin Mary.
On the left you can see Justinian, the founder of Hagia Sophia. On the real mosaic, he is holding Hagia Sophia and presenting it to Virgin Mary.
In our version, Justinian holds a sword.
As a consequence of a number of political events in Turkey, on 22 July 2020 Hagia Sophia was started to be used as a mosque again.
That day, the president of Directorate of Religious Affairs Turkey, held sword in the openning ceremony.
Sword symbolizes war BUT we want to protest that these global monuments should not be used for political gains. Hagia Sophia is a global cultural value of all of us.
