One of the most innovative and beautiful buildings in the world has meant many things to many people over the course of its 1500 year history — and its identity is being contested once again. What is at stake in its (until very recent) designation as a “museum”?
Here are the images we’ll be looking at.
Readings:
- Watch this video: They Might Be Giants, Istanbul (Not Constantinople), so that you get my jokey title and because it’s great.
- Hagia Sophia on Smarthistory (video and text)
- Three op-eds from mid-July, 2020, in the New York Times (read in this order):
– Editorial Board, “The Hagia Sophia was a Cathedral, a Mosque and a Museum. It’s Converting Again.” 7/22/20
– Selim Koru, “Turkey’s Islamist Dream Finally Becomes a Reality,” 7/14/20
– Mustafa Akyol, “Would the Prophet Muhammad Convert Hagia Sophia?” 7/20/20
