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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: https://www.academia.edu/43531687/Remains_of_the_Day_Converted_Anatolian_Churches
In "The Fate of Tanzimat-Era Churches in Anatolia after the Loss of their Congregations" I explore the multiple range of reuses of 19th century churches from cinemas to penitentiaries, after the 1924 population exchange between Turkey and Greece: https://www.academia.edu/35013359/The_Fate_of_Tanzimat-Era_Churches_in_Anatolia_After_the_Loss_of_Their_Congregations
"The Iconostasis in the Republican Mosque: Transformed Religious Sites as Artifacts of Intersecting Religioscapes" is the fascinating story of a church converted into a mosque with much of its Christian elements preserved. We ask why and how: https://www.academia.edu/7741034/The_Iconostasis_in_the_Republican_Mosque_Transformed_Religious_Sites_as_Artifacts_of_Intersecting_Religioscapes
In "The Byzantine Mosque in Trilye: A Processual Analysis of Dominance, Sharing, Transformation and Tolerance" we look at the long trajectory of interactions, including the reconversion of the-then-mosque back into a church for a brief period in 1920-22: https://www.academia.edu/5083043/History_and_Anthropology_The_Byzantine_Mosque_at_Trilye_A_Processual_Analysis_of_Dominance_Sharing_Transformation_and_Tolerance
