Natalia Poulou

The famous angels of Kurbinovo, a small village on the shore of the Great Prespa Lake in North Macedonia, have got their colorful robes, expressive faces and fluttering wings back, after the wear and tear of time had dulled the luster of what is regarded as one of the greatest murals of the Komnenian era (AD 1081-1204).

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has strategically utilized the symbolic significance of Hagia Sophia, once the world's largest Byzantine cathedral, which he reconverted into a mosque in 2020, in order to mobilize his devout and nationalist supporters ahead of Sunday's runoff vote. "The entire West got mad - but I did it," he said during a rally in Istanbul on Saturday.

The government has announced the names of the presidents, vice-presidents and CEOs of five museums which recently became private entities.