Full Description
Hagia Sophia a building whose domes have defined Istanbul's skyline for over 1500 years has led many lives. Initially a church, subsequently a mosque, then a museum, the structure is today a monument of world heritage, even as its official status remains contested. Hagia Sophia's global fame took shape during the long nineteenth century, when Europeans 'discovered' its architectural significance. But what role did local actors play in the creation of Hagia Sophia as a modern monument? This book seeks out the audiences of this building beyond its Western interpreters, from Ottoman officials to the diverse communities of Istanbul. Chronologically bracketed by the major renovation of the structure in the 1740s and its conversion into a museum in 1934, this volume traces the gradual transformation of Hagia Sophia within the Ottoman imaginary from imaret (mosque complex) to eser (monument); that is, from lived space to archaeological artifact.
Contents
List of FiguresNote on Contributors A Note on Translation and TransliterationAcknowledgments
Introduction: Writing the Modern Biography of an Ancient MonumentEmily Neumeier and Benjamin Anderson
1. Hagia Sophia's Second Conversion: The Building Campaign of Mahmud I and the Transformation from Mosque to Complex (1739-43)Ünver Rüstem
2. The Paradoxes of Hagia Sophia's Ablution Fountain: The Qasida al-Burda in Cosmopolitan IstanbulTülay Artan
3. The Calligraphic Arts in the Age of Ottoman Architectural RenovationEmily Neumeier
4. From the Mouth of Angels: Folkloric Hagia SophiaBenjamin Anderson
5. The Other Ayasofya: The Restoration of Salonica's Ayasofya Mosque, 1890-1911Sotirios Dimitriadis
6. 'That Domed Feeling': A Byzantine Synagogue in ClevelandRobert S. Nelson
7. The Monument of the Present: The Fossati Restoration of Hagia Sophia (1847-9)Asli Menevse
8. From Ceremony to Spectacle: Changing Perceptions of Hagia Sophia through the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr) Prayer CeremoniesAyşe Hilâl Uğurlu
9. Temple of the World's Desire: Hagia Sophia in the American Press, c. 1910-1927Robert Ousterhout
Index
