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Events on Saturday 24 November 1934 1
1934Ataturk converts Hagia Sophia to a museumOn 24 November 1934, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk signs the decree converting Hagia Sophia from a mosque to a museum -- a secular act intended to demonstrate the Turkish Republic's rejection of Ottoman religious identity and its embrace of a modern, inclusive national identity. The building opens as a museum on 1 February 1935. The mosaics are revealed as the plaster covering them is removed over subsequent decades. UNESCO designates it a World Heritage Site in 1985 as part of the Historic Areas of Istanbul. For 86 years it is the most visited tourist site in Turkey, welcoming millions of visitors of all faiths.