Countries

Turkey

The only country spanning two continents, split by the Bosphorus strait between Europe and Asia. The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul opened as a cathedral in 537 CE, became a mosque in 1453, a museum in 1935, and a mosque again in 2020, nearly 1,500 years of continuous use.

The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul

Photo: Arild Vagen, CC BY-SA 3.0

Red and the star-and-crescent trace back to the late Ottoman Empire. Adopted in its current proportions in 1936, after the founding of the modern Turkish republic.

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