The Turkish Ministry of Culture is conducting a programme to clean the underground areas of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul with the aim of making them accessible to the public, according to a report by Turkey's Anadolu news agency.
Professor Hassan Firat Dicker, a member of the Scientific Council of Hagia Sophia, said that there are underground structures under the monument, which are about a kilometre long and consist of tunnels, cells and catacombs. He explained that all these cleaning procedures will take about a year.
According to the Turkish professor, the sections under the courtyard of the stoa are of the same age as Hagia Sophia, i.e. about 1,500 years old, while the area with the tombs is estimated to be older than the existing structure.
«I think cleaning these underground structures is very important for the existing air conditioning system of St. Sophia and for it to “breathe” comfortably. This will be a much more comprehensive and long-term project than has been done in the past,» said Professor Dicker.
He also added that he considers it important that at least a part of these sites will be open to visitors and at the same time findings will come to light that, after being sorted under the supervision of archaeologists, will shed light on the history of Istanbul.
The report by Anadolu Agency is accompanied by relevant photographic material.
The issue had been brought to the fore by the same Professor Hassan Firat Diker and in 2022 he had taken the Turkish news agency crew on a tour of the underground structures. At that time he had stated that at a depth of four meters there is a catacomb consisting of three rooms where burials were carried out since the 4th century AD and it is the oldest structure in the Byzantine church complex. The existence of this particular underground structure was known as early as 1946, but it had been flooded by four tons of mud and sediment.
