This hits me hard. This lovely church-mosque-cultural center in Bursa/Turkey was part of a research project I conducted in 2012, when I was investigating the role of religious heritage in peace-building between Turkey and Greece (a mini thread 👇)
greekcitytimes.com/2020/09/03/tur… We talk about famed historical monuments often. There are also smaller scale, humble monuments, not as old or not as remarkable, but important for memory of belonging to a place. This little church is one of many built in the 19th cent. for the local Greek-Orthodox flock.

I am thinking of all the museumified former Byzantine churches converted into Ottoman mosques that were opened as functioning mosques over the last decade —Hagia Sophias of Nicaea, Trabizond, Vize, Istanbul— & #Chora/#Kariye's physical transformation will be the trickiest of all. Church of St. Savior at #Chora is covered, almost everywhere, in brilliant and exquisite mosaics as well as frescoes with figural decorations. It is the most embellished of all the above mentioned church/mosque/museums.

As the first images of changes done to #HagiaSophia's interior to prepare for the prayers marking the conversion of Hagia Sophia to a mosque, let me share some initial observations, insights, and worries with you. A thread 👇 It appears that the authorities have chosen to install a (presumably retractable) curtain mechanism to conceal the mosaics of Virgin and Child on the apse, and the Archangel Gabriel in the bema.

Erdogan will hold the first Islamic prayers in #HagiaSophia on July 24th--essentially converting the edifice into a functioning mosque. So, what does this mean for Hagia Sophia's short-term and long-term preservation? A thread 👇 On July 10 Erdogan signed a decree taking #HagiaSophia from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and gave it over to Directorate of Religious Affairs. These are two fundamentally different institutions with different priorities.

With the recent discussions on changing #HagiaSophia's status from a museum to a mosque, I wanted to share with you a few articles I wrote over the years based on my research on conversion/ transformation/ reuse of religious heritage. A thread👇 In "Remains of the Day: Converted Anatolian Churches" I analyze how different models of conversions of churches into mosques affect the utilitarian, aesthetic, and ideological dimensions of reuse. Hagia Sophia fits into both conquest and reconquest models:
academia.edu/43531687/Remai…