Muslims have been allowed to pray inside the Santa Maria della Misericordia church, which was converted to a mosque by artist Christoph Buchel.

The installation is Iceland's official entry into the Venice Biennale and will be deconstructed in November.

But Catholic authorities say that they should have been consulted over the initiative, even though the church was deconsecrated 45 years ago and has been privately owned since 1973.

"For any use other than Christian worship, authorisation must be sought from the ecclesiastical authorities, regardless of who is the owner of the church," the Patriarchate of Venice said in a statement.

"Such authorisation, for this site, was neither requested nor granted," the patriarchate stated.

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