Muslim prayers are being held on Friday from Hagia Sophia in Istanbul for the first time in 86 years after its reconversion into a mosque earlier this month.

Erdogan declared a decree reviving the sixth-century building as a mosque this month after a Turkish high court ruled that the Hagia Sophia had been illegally made into a museum more than eight decades ago. The move was met with dismay in Greece and the United States and from Christian church leaders.