‘Cancel Culture’ Claims Hagia Sophia

The latest outbreak of “cancel culture” overshadows debates over President Trump’s Twitter feed and defacing statues of Confederate generals.

 
Turkey’s President Erdogan has turned the biggest tourist attraction in Turkey from a museum into a mosque. This is not just any museum; nor will it be just any mosque. It began in 537 as the Byzantine church of Hagia Sophia. Its enormous dome, which appeared to float in mid-air and was decorated with glowing Christian mosaics, made it the most beautiful church in the world. Its stunning design changed the history of architecture.

But after the Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mehmet II took Constantinople in 1453, it became the Great Mosque of Ayasofya. Those glorious mosaics were white-washed or destroyed. Four spectacular minarets were constructed nearby.

In 1935 there came another change. Turkey’s modernizing president, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, repurposed the building and turned it into a museum. This change has remained controversial in Turkey where devout Muslims deeply resented Atatürk’s secular reforms.

This architectural masterpiece is on UNESCO’s World Heritage List and is admired by people of all cultures and faiths. Erdogan’s change was criticized by Pope Francis (“I am very pained”). Patriarch Kirill of Moscow (“a threat to the entire Christian civilization”), Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople (a source of “controversy and conflict”), Saudi journalist Wafa Al-Rasheed (“you are playing with fire”), US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (diminishing a unique legacy). In short, just about everyone.

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Πηγή: intellectualtakeout.org