Built in the 12th century under Norman rule, it boasts Italy's largest Byzantine-style mosaics, second in the world only to those of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

Like Istanbul’s landmark Hagia Sophia, the Chora had operated as a museum for decades before it was converted into a mosque.

In 2020, Erdogan joined hundreds of worshipers for the first Muslim prayers in Hagia Sophia in 86 years, brushing aside international criticism and calls for the monument to be kept as a museum.

The cathedral was built to rival the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

In 2020, Erdogan converted the former Byzantine-era church Hagia Sophia — which was turned into a mosque with the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul — back into a functioning mosque.