<p>This paper examines the sacralization of politics in authoritarian populisms through a case study of the conversion of Hagia Sophia, a fifteen-century-old monument from the Byzantine era into a mosque. I argue that in Turkey, the AKP leverages the monument’s history to create a sense of yearning among the Turkish people while positioning itself as the sole entity able to fulfill this yearning. It does so by reminding the people of the deprivation previous regimes caused, thus, renewing their victim status. The Party relies on what I term “extractive sacralization” as they convert this sense of victimization to reward: an invitation to join a triumphal quest. However, daily life inside the temple complicates the regime’s message as people from diverse backgrounds engage with the structure in their own ways. Some develop a curiosity for the Byzantine mystique, while others find that the structure’s mystical nature is jeopardized by the temple’s new status. Curiously, the multi-layered iconicity of Hagia Sophia complicated the notion of the sacred to pull both the citizens and the regime into the realm of the occult.</p>