What is it about?
This article explores the process of converting a sacred space, object, saint or text from one religion to another. The use of narrative and memory in the conversion process is emphasised. It focuses on the well known sacred spaces of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.
Featured Image
Photo by Diego Allen on Unsplash
Why is it important?
The work is timely because sacred space—whether shared or contested—is a driving force in the ongoing humanitarian disasters unfolding in the Middle East. Additionally, Hagia Sophia was re-converted again by the present government of Turkey. Understanding the stories that cultures tell about sacred spaces, or at least making them known, is essential for effecting positive change.
Perspectives
This article explored narrative as an hierotopic device potentially more powerful than typical hierotopia such as relics.
David Williams
Royal Holloway University of London
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Memory, Translating Sacra, and the Making of Shared Sacred Spaces: Hagia Sophia and the Church of St John in Damascus (5th–17th c.), October 2024, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004704503_007.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
