Hagia Sophia restoration to protect 1,500-year-old Unesco ‘masterpiece’

Istanbul landmark's most extensive works in years will include efforts to prevent earthquake damage

Standing beneath the stone archways, grand murals and filagree lamps of the Hagia Sophia, the architect Hasan Frat Diker reflects on his vocation: the protection of a fragile structure that is both Turkey's grandest mosque and perhaps its most contentious building. He is overseeing some of the most intense restoration and preservation works in the Hagia Sophia's nearly 1,500-year history, including efforts to strengthen its grand central dome and protect it from earthquakes.

We are not just responsible for this building but to the entire world public," Diker said, gesturing at the crowds of visitors kneeled on the plush turquoise carpets or gazing at the murals of feathered seraphim. He pointed up at the gold mosaic and blue mural interior of the main dome, what he describes as one of the many unsolved problems" of the Hagia Sophia's design.