The #HagiaSophiaMosque debate has sparked questions about other monuments. For example here is a famous Athenian mosque built after 1721 (the previous one was ruined in the 1687 explosion), in a building that had already been a temple & church(es).

#medievaltwitter https://twitter.com/AlexandraVukov1/status/1264964164973363200

Similar in style to the #Tzistarakis Mosque in Monastiraki (image below), the Parthenon mosque was inaugurated by Mehmed II & the famed #Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi described its sculptures, some are now in the #BritishMuseum

Nowadays only vestiges remain of the #Byzantine church of the Parthenon (I am told there is a cross on one of the columns), the Frankish tower was taken down in 1874 as ordered by the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann & the #Acropolis has been cleared of most buildings..

Of the mosque, only part of the minaret remains (see below). The clearing of the #acropolis has taken places in stages & is entrenched in European ideas about the classical architecture + privileging classical heritage, a project that nationalists have embraced.

#medievaltwitter

Although #Ottoman culture is pervasive in #Greece its monuments have been neglected, although that is now changing with the #Fethiye mosque restoration (though the Old Madrasa is in a sad state) & there is scholarly interest, such as @ASCSAthens https://www.ascsa.edu.gr/news/newsDetails/ottoman-athens-publication

... #Byzantine heritage is also not especially promoted but is linked to Orthodoxy, so is better preserved (I have rarely seen tourists flock to the many Byzantine churches in #Athens). So there is a particular narrative about #Greek heritage that is promoted + attracts tourists.

Back to the #HagiaSophiaMosque debate: all of the monuments & spaces discussed are assemblages with overlapping historical layers that reflect the uses of heritage to privilege certain narratives over others. We need to keep this in mind re: recent events.

#medievaltwitter

The argument "If Greece doesn't allow the Fethiye Mosque, then what's wrong with an Ayasofya Mosque?" only formulates the #HagiaSophiaMosque debate as a religious nationalist response to religious nationalism. We must resist this bc this is how history is collapsed + erased.