Hagia Sophia: Church, Mosque, Monument, Museum, Symbol

 

Donnerstag, 4. Dezember 2014 um 18:30 Hörsaal C 1, Universitätscampus AAKH, Hof 2

The Hagia Sophia, landmark of Istanbul, is at the center of a polemical debate about whether or not it should be kept in its present status of a museum. The alternative, with considerable political and popular backing, would be to “re-consecrate” it by reverting it to the religious function it has fulfilled for about five centuries and use it as a mosque. Instead of engaging in this highly politicized and to a large extent sterile debate it may be more useful to follow a historical approach in order to understand the dynamics of the gradual transformation of a place of cult into a historic monument from the end of the eighteenth century to the present.

 

After lecture and discussion: reception at the Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Hof 9. http://hkf-visuellekulturgeschichte.univie.ac.at