Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said that as of January 15, 2024, there will be a fee for foreign tourists to enter Hagia Sophia. Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy made statements about the Hagia Sophia Mosque, which is under restoration.
Minister Ersoy stated that upon the recommendation of UNESCO, the visitor management plan will be implemented as of January 15, 2024, and that as of this date, there will be a fee for foreign tourists to enter Hagia Sophia.
Minister Ersoy said:
* Upon the recommendation of UNESCO, we are implementing a visitor management plan as of January 15, 2024. With the application, visit quality and safety will increase.
* There is no change in the places of worship of Turkish citizens who visit the mosque for worship. We are changing the entrance gate of foreign citizens’ visits for touristic and cultural purposes.
* Visits made by foreign citizens for touristic purposes will also be paid as of January 15. Visits made by Turkish citizens for the purpose of worship will be free of charge, as in the past and today.
* We have not clarified the fee yet. We will have clarified by January 15th, it is not our priority anyway.
We used to pay before as well, it was I think 20€ in 2019.
Good.
People still visit Turkey? Why? The Turkish admin has made it all too clear that it doesn’t really like “western” folks, no?
Lmao, make Turks pay for entering in religious buildings all around the world and let’s see how quickly they drop the BS.
It’s kind of ridiculous they turned it into a Mosque again.
The thing was home to multiple (edit: 2 as I’ve been informed) different religions for all of its existence and thus was kind of a monument to religious coexistence or similarity. It’s also beautiful.
Now it’s another gigantic Mosque directly across from another (Blue Mosque, which is also beautiful).
Also unfortunately I do have to say that active mosques tend to have an unbearable smell of sweaty feet.
So it is going back to museum?
Not to mention it will be in continuous restoration for next 50 years.
This year we started putting a fee for tourists for entering the Pantheon in Rome, which is good since the place needs money for its upkeep and is of great historic significance
This doesn’t seem unreasonable to be honest. The damn thing is probably bloody expensive to maintain. Someone’s got to pay for it. May as well be the hordes of tourists stampeding through it.
“Please make out cheques to the Erdottoman Neoimperial Palace Fund (/ Hamas)”
On the same note, where can I sign to receive a payment if I don’t go there?
Wait, so they steel this from the Christians, turn it into a Mosque and now we have to pay for it?
Was in Turkey in sept and they raised prices for non-locals to ruins by roughly three times.
They did that from june 1st.
Like 15-20eur to visit some places.
A lot of cathedrals have paid entrances for tourists. And alot of countries allow cultural exhibits to be cheaper or free for their nationals. This really isn’t such a crazy thing.
Ethnic Greeks should get in free.
I am pretty sure it is not the foreign tourists that are eating the doors of Hagia Sophia but Erdogan’s fucking voters…
And no this is not sarcasm. They ate pieces of a 1600 year old door thinking it is miraculous.
Honestly i have been there recently, skip it, it may be old, but it’s the ugliest building I have ever seen, with the waiting time and now the entrance fee it absolly isn’t worth it
I was there last year and had a bit of a strange experience:
I got in not too long before prayer begun and when it did, you were asked to leave over speakers. All the western / white tourists went to the exit in time but many many middle eastern looking people (Hidschab wearing women and their husbands, so also mostly tourists in Istanbul) just didnt care. Children running around playing loudly, even as few sat down to get ready to prey a ton of people just didnt care and walked around them taking photos and such. I saw all that from the corridor where you leave your shoes.
Either they really didnt give a f or they knew the whole mosque thing isnt that big of a deal there.
Still a great place to visit and beautiful too, even if it lacks the atmosphere of other churches similar in size. I think mostly because of the carpet.
Well, it’s a monument that eats up a metric shit tonne of resources and work every year. It’s not that uncommon to see European cathedrals charge a little fee from visitors or at the very least openly beg for donations towards the maintenance. They’re museums, effectively, even if many still hold services. Museums tend to be public money sinkholes rather than survive on their own visitor income, and that’s not to say we shouldn’t pour public money into them because we most definitely should. But there’s absolutely no reason not to ask tourists to add their contributions as well, especially in a museum that gets as much traffic as Hagia Sophia.
MICA!!!!
Make Istanbul Constantinople Again!
Stupid move. They should make everyone pay for the tourist attraction, that way they’d make even more money. I really couldn’t care less, it should be property of the Turkish state and the Turkish state should make money off of it. And if they want it to be dedicated to Islam, that’s their choice.
Want a really stupid case to show you why? The Alhambra in Spain belongs to the Catholic church, not Spain. That’s literally just as ridiculous at it still belonging to Muslims. Nationalize the Alhambra! And then ask for a higher entrance fee than the one for the Hagia Sophia.
Why is this news? :)))))
If they would give it back I’d understand.
So it’s gonna be free to enter for Greeks?
I’ll just build it in civ or something
Foreign? So it’s still free for Greeks? 😁
It used to be museum then they reverted it to mosque now they turned it to musque for sweet taste of Euros.
Infidel tax
Ewww
urge to crusade rising
They turned something so beautiful to something ugly.
Excuse you???
Didn’t Erdogan change the status of the Hagia Sophia back to a mosque? Since when do mosques fee anyone that enters?
Meh, it was paid entrance before it was a mosque too.
Doesn’t matter, I’ll play Assassin’s Creed Revelations and visit for free. I’ll also get that Ishaq Pasha Armor from there.
This includes the Turks and Muslims right?
I visited it when it was a museum and again this year when it was a mosque it was much better before and now you have to pay again
It’s called a Jizya right?
I have visited Hagia Sophia as a child back in the 80s. I remember shuttered byzantine mosaics and the obvious detriment and abandonment of everything original. Instead paintings were covered with Koran verses printed goldeh on a green fabric. Surely being a Museum makes this type of intented neglect a never again
37 comments
Foreigners will pay money to enter Hagia Sophia
Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said that as of January 15, 2024, there will be a fee for foreign tourists to enter Hagia Sophia. Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy made statements about the Hagia Sophia Mosque, which is under restoration.
Minister Ersoy stated that upon the recommendation of UNESCO, the visitor management plan will be implemented as of January 15, 2024, and that as of this date, there will be a fee for foreign tourists to enter Hagia Sophia.
Minister Ersoy said:
* Upon the recommendation of UNESCO, we are implementing a visitor management plan as of January 15, 2024. With the application, visit quality and safety will increase.
* There is no change in the places of worship of Turkish citizens who visit the mosque for worship. We are changing the entrance gate of foreign citizens’ visits for touristic and cultural purposes.
* Visits made by foreign citizens for touristic purposes will also be paid as of January 15. Visits made by Turkish citizens for the purpose of worship will be free of charge, as in the past and today.
* We have not clarified the fee yet. We will have clarified by January 15th, it is not our priority anyway.
We used to pay before as well, it was I think 20€ in 2019.
Good.
People still visit Turkey? Why? The Turkish admin has made it all too clear that it doesn’t really like “western” folks, no?
Lmao, make Turks pay for entering in religious buildings all around the world and let’s see how quickly they drop the BS.
It’s kind of ridiculous they turned it into a Mosque again.
The thing was home to multiple (edit: 2 as I’ve been informed) different religions for all of its existence and thus was kind of a monument to religious coexistence or similarity. It’s also beautiful.
Now it’s another gigantic Mosque directly across from another (Blue Mosque, which is also beautiful).
Also unfortunately I do have to say that active mosques tend to have an unbearable smell of sweaty feet.
So it is going back to museum?
Not to mention it will be in continuous restoration for next 50 years.
This year we started putting a fee for tourists for entering the Pantheon in Rome, which is good since the place needs money for its upkeep and is of great historic significance
This doesn’t seem unreasonable to be honest. The damn thing is probably bloody expensive to maintain. Someone’s got to pay for it. May as well be the hordes of tourists stampeding through it.
“Please make out cheques to the Erdottoman Neoimperial Palace Fund (/ Hamas)”
On the same note, where can I sign to receive a payment if I don’t go there?
Wait, so they steel this from the Christians, turn it into a Mosque and now we have to pay for it?
Was in Turkey in sept and they raised prices for non-locals to ruins by roughly three times.
They did that from june 1st.
Like 15-20eur to visit some places.
A lot of cathedrals have paid entrances for tourists. And alot of countries allow cultural exhibits to be cheaper or free for their nationals. This really isn’t such a crazy thing.
Ethnic Greeks should get in free.
I am pretty sure it is not the foreign tourists that are eating the doors of Hagia Sophia but Erdogan’s fucking voters…
And no this is not sarcasm. They ate pieces of a 1600 year old door thinking it is miraculous.
Honestly i have been there recently, skip it, it may be old, but it’s the ugliest building I have ever seen, with the waiting time and now the entrance fee it absolly isn’t worth it
I was there last year and had a bit of a strange experience:
I got in not too long before prayer begun and when it did, you were asked to leave over speakers. All the western / white tourists went to the exit in time but many many middle eastern looking people (Hidschab wearing women and their husbands, so also mostly tourists in Istanbul) just didnt care. Children running around playing loudly, even as few sat down to get ready to prey a ton of people just didnt care and walked around them taking photos and such. I saw all that from the corridor where you leave your shoes.
Either they really didnt give a f or they knew the whole mosque thing isnt that big of a deal there.
Still a great place to visit and beautiful too, even if it lacks the atmosphere of other churches similar in size. I think mostly because of the carpet.
Well, it’s a monument that eats up a metric shit tonne of resources and work every year. It’s not that uncommon to see European cathedrals charge a little fee from visitors or at the very least openly beg for donations towards the maintenance. They’re museums, effectively, even if many still hold services. Museums tend to be public money sinkholes rather than survive on their own visitor income, and that’s not to say we shouldn’t pour public money into them because we most definitely should. But there’s absolutely no reason not to ask tourists to add their contributions as well, especially in a museum that gets as much traffic as Hagia Sophia.
MICA!!!!
Make Istanbul Constantinople Again!
Stupid move. They should make everyone pay for the tourist attraction, that way they’d make even more money. I really couldn’t care less, it should be property of the Turkish state and the Turkish state should make money off of it. And if they want it to be dedicated to Islam, that’s their choice.
Want a really stupid case to show you why? The Alhambra in Spain belongs to the Catholic church, not Spain. That’s literally just as ridiculous at it still belonging to Muslims. Nationalize the Alhambra! And then ask for a higher entrance fee than the one for the Hagia Sophia.
Why is this news? :)))))
If they would give it back I’d understand.
So it’s gonna be free to enter for Greeks?
I’ll just build it in civ or something
Foreign? So it’s still free for Greeks? 😁
It used to be museum then they reverted it to mosque now they turned it to musque for sweet taste of Euros.
Infidel tax
Ewww
urge to crusade rising
They turned something so beautiful to something ugly.
Excuse you???
Didn’t Erdogan change the status of the Hagia Sophia back to a mosque? Since when do mosques fee anyone that enters?
Meh, it was paid entrance before it was a mosque too.
Doesn’t matter, I’ll play Assassin’s Creed Revelations and visit for free. I’ll also get that Ishaq Pasha Armor from there.
This includes the Turks and Muslims right?
I visited it when it was a museum and again this year when it was a mosque it was much better before and now you have to pay again
It’s called a Jizya right?
I have visited Hagia Sophia as a child back in the 80s. I remember shuttered byzantine mosaics and the obvious detriment and abandonment of everything original. Instead paintings were covered with Koran verses printed goldeh on a green fabric. Surely being a Museum makes this type of intented neglect a never again