The UNESCO World Heritage site’s conversion has stimulated uproar worldwide, with religious and also political leaders claiming the structure had been an important sign of interfaith unity.
Russia will certainly help Syria build a replica of the Hagia Sophia that will certainly operate as an Orthodox cathedral, a Russian lawmaker has said after Turkey transformed the iconic Istanbul museum into a mosque this month.
Russia will certainly provide funding for the miniature Hagia Sophia in the western Syrian district of Hama to show the importance of “calm dialogue” between faiths, conservative lawmaker Vitaly Milonov said.
” Syria, unlike Turkey, is a nation that clearly reveals the possibility of relaxed and also favorable interfaith dialogue,” Milonov informed the state-run RIA Novosti news agency previously this month. “President Bashar al-Assad would certainly never transfer a sanctuary from one religion to another.”
Prep work for its construction in the Hama district city of Al-Suqaylabiyah will certainly begin following month, the Lebanese Al-Modon information electrical outlet reported Tuesday.
The task is supposedly the creation of pro-regime militia leader Nabeul Al-Abdullah. Abdullah offered his plans to the Russian armed force after acquiring approval from the city diocesan of the Greek Orthodox Church in Hama, Al-Modon reported.
” I think that all of Russia will certainly wish to help. This will genuinely be a spots occasion for all Orthodox individuals; I make certain that every Orthodox Christian wants his name to be engraved in at least a rock or block of the new Hagia Sophia,” Milonov stated.
Moscow is backing the task as component of initiatives to justify its military intervention in Syria by highlighting web links between the war-torn country’s Orthodox Christian population and Russia, Syrian opposition protestors told Al-Modon. Russia, a staunch ally of Assad, has been involved in the Syrian dispute considering that 2015.
The website of the brand-new sanctuary is supposedly located a couple of kilometers from Turkish army bases in Hama.
The Hagia Sophia was constructed as an Orthodox Christian basilica during the Byzantine Empire yet exchanged a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453. It invited its initial Muslim worshippers recently after almost 9 decades as a gallery.
The Russian Orthodox Church expressed discouragement at Turkey’s decision and the Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow “noted with remorse” Ankara’s action.