Hagia Sophia (Trabzon)

hagia sophia trabzon

Fig. 1. Exterior view of Hagia Sophia in the city of Trabzon, on the coast (Source: Harvard Fine Arts Library)

650 miles away from Istanbul lies the coastal city of Trabzon, home to another Hagia Sophia. While this monument is much less famous compared to its sister in Istanbul, it still retains its own unique and beautiful artistic features. Hagia Sophia of Trabzon is considered one of the best-preserved buildings created in the Late-Byzantine style of architecture, and it also embodies the same tense history of religious conversion as its counterpart in Istanbul (and among many other Turkish cities).

Hagia Sophia was built sometime between 1238-1263 CE under Manuel I Komnenos, the emperor of the Trebizond Empire. The Trebizond Empire was established following the capture of Constantinople in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade. After the city was sacked, the Byzantine Empire began to dissolve into smaller states, among which was the Trebizond Empire. Upon Hagia Sophia’s original conception, it served as a monastic and funerary church. Later, the Trebizond Empire was conquered in 1541 by Mehmet the II and the Ottoman Empire, just a few years before the Fall of Constantinople and the official end of the Byzantine Empire.

view of central dome

Fig. 2. View of central dome and frescos (Source: Harvard Fine Arts Library)

Trebizond’s distance from Istanbul resulted in the preservation of Hagia Sophia as a church for about a century following the Ottoman conquestas a peripheral and less populated area, the pressure of conversion was not as great. By the 19th century, the church had been abandoned because there was not a large enough community to justify hosting prayer services. Later, during the 1860s, the space was used as a mosque, as evident by the plastering of its elaborate fresco interior decoration which was later uncovered in 1957. There are some ambiguities and holes in Hagia Sophia’s history during the latter half of the 19th century and early parts of the 20th century, but by World War II, it was being used as a military depot.

Following the war, there was a push on behalf of the governor of Trabzon to convert Hagia Sophia into a museum, but it instead wound up converting into a mosque in 1953. The history of the Hagia Sophia of Trabzon parallels the Hagia Sophia of Istanbul in many ways: after an archaeological survey was conducted by David Winfield in 1957 and many well-preserved frescoes were uncovered beneath plaster, there was a movement to change the mosque into a museum. These frescoes cover a majority of the wall and ceiling space at Hagia Sophia, and they still exhibit incredibly vibrant, rainbow scenes of evangelists, angels, and of the Bible. A separate mosque called the Yeni Fatih was built nearby so that the religious community could still have a place of worship following Hagia Sophia’s conversion to a museum.

frescoes

Fig. 3. Some of the colorful frescoes depicting Biblical scenes within Hagia Sophia. (Source: Dick Osseman)

Less than 30 years later, Turkish authorities were already requesting Hagia Sophia revert back to a mosquethe 1980s in Turkey marked a rise in Islamist and nationalist movements that supported more conservative regulation and governance. The Regional Conservation Council of Trabzon stated that, since the monument “is not representing Turkish mosque architecture but rather a church architecture and is comprised of frescoes in its interior which are significant both for art history and tourism,” it did not approve of its conversion.1 This tension never settled, and in 2012, the Directorate of Foundations, a government organization that manages religious monuments and properties in line with Ottoman Islamic law, claimed that the secularization of the building was in violation of "constitutionally guaranteed ownership rights."2 In 2013, Hagia Sophia of Trabzon opened as a mosque and has remained one into the present day.

Trabzon organizations have brought up lawsuits against Hagia Sophia’s conversion, especially in the name of its art historical value and the disregard for careful conservation practices. There is now a false ceiling covering many of the monument’s ornate frescos, as well as the addition of carpeted floors, a mihrab, and curtains to partition the main prayer area. These additions were implemented without the approval of the Regional Conservation Council and were not executed with suggested precautionary measures. While operating as a museum, Hagia Sophia employed a number of strict conservatory measures, such to the extent that no flash photography was allowed within the site. Now, for the parts that function as a mosque, there are no real preservation practices in place, and they are constantly subjected to being easily damaged.

fresco seraphim

Fig. 4. Fresco detail of seraphim. (Source: Harvard Fine Arts Library)

Local shopkeepers have also publicly voiced their disapproval of the conversionwithout Hagia Sophia’s status as a museum, tourist numbers have steeply declined, resulting in a loss of income for local businesses. While these shopkeepers value Hagia Sophia from an economic standpoint instead of an art historical one, their frustration with its conversion further proves how the entire decision is problematic and has neglected to take into account the local communities. The whole conversion process likely did not involve any discussions with the people of Trabzon.

At the heart of the Turkish government’s conversion initiatives is its desire to justify a kind of ownership over history. Turkish authorities frame the conversion of museums into mosques as a “restoration,” but in fact, it is an act of suppression that seeks to erase the multiplicity of identities within these buildings. There is not an inherent need for more mosques in Turkey; the population is largely Islamic, and there are many mosques that are not even in use. The fact that the city of Trabzon built an entirely new mosque for its community following Hagia Sophia’s switch to a museum proves that these conversions are not a matter of supply and demand. While veiled as a condition of Ottoman Islamic Law or a service to Turkish Muslims, the ultimate goal of these conversions is to incite nationalism by glorifying an Imperialist Ottoman rule. The Hagia Sophia of Trabzon was a church for several centuries before becoming a mosque for a very brief period; it is historically inaccurate to claim that it somehow rightfully belongs as an Islamic place of worship.

kingdom of god detail

Fig. 5. Fresco detail of the Tetramorph, indicated by the symbols of the Four Evangelists, the lion, ox, angel, and eagle, each holding a gospel. (Source: Dick Osseman)

There are a number of Hagia Sophias throughout Turkey that have been turned from museums into mosques in recent years. Ultimately, retaining their status as a museum is the most healthy and equal way to reconcile the diverse identities embedded within them. By conceiving of these monuments through their historical and artistic merits, we can understand them through an apolitical perspective and appreciate them for their educational value. In contrast, the desecularization of spaces within Turkey is parallel to politically weaponizing them. Given a time where there is a rise of nationalism and a conflation of Islamism as Turkishness, the transformation of secular, educational spaces into something Islamic is an especially politicizing move. Secularization plays a key role in distancing a nation, especially one with such a religiously-charged history, from its imperial past. It helps to neutralize a space as complex and multi-faceted as Hagia Sophia, whose history is bound within a number of religious turnovers. The lack of religious ownership in this scenario is the most peaceful way to transmit Hagia Sophia’s historyas things currently stand, these monuments are being used to weaponize heritage and impose ideology on others.

 

1, 2 Aykaç, Pinar. “Contesting the Byzantine Past: Four Hagia Sophias as Ideological Battlegrounds of Architectural Conservation in Turkey.” Heritage & Society  vol. 11, no. 2 (2018).