THE ICONOSTASIS IN THE REPUBLICAN MOSQUE: TRANSFORMED RELIGIOUS SITES AS ARTIFACTS OF INTERSECTING RELIGIOSCAPES

In this paper we focus on the Republican Mosque in Derinkuyu, Turkey, a Greek Orthodox church built in 1859 and transformed into a mosque in 1949 that still exhibits many obviously Christian structural features not found in most such converted churches. We utilize the concept of religioscape, define...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of Middle East studies 2014-08, Vol.46 (3), p.489-512
Main Authors: Tanyeri-Erdemir, Tuğba, Hayden, Robert M., Erdemir, Aykan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Andric, Ivo (1892-1975)
Bosnian literature
Catholicism
Christian history
Christian symbolism
Christianity
Christians
Churches
Competitiveness
Eastern Orthodox churches
Greek language
Greek Orthodox Church
Islam
Middle East
Middle Eastern history
Mosques
Mosques & temples
Orthodox Church
Prayer
Religious buildings
Religious history
Religious traditions
Residential buildings
Space
Space and Time in Turkish/Ottoman Studies
Structural analysis
Syncretism
Towns
Traditions
Turkey
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Summary:In this paper we focus on the Republican Mosque in Derinkuyu, Turkey, a Greek Orthodox church built in 1859 and transformed into a mosque in 1949 that still exhibits many obviously Christian structural features not found in most such converted churches. We utilize the concept of religioscape, defined as the distribution in spaces through time of the physical manifestations of specific religious traditions and of the populations that build them, to analyze the historical transformations of the building, and show that this incongruity marks a specific stage in the long-term competitive sharing of space by the two religiously defined communities concerned. This shared but contested space is larger than that of the building or even the town of Derinkuyu. We argue that syncretism without sharing correlates with a lack of need to show dominance symbolically, since the community that had lost the sacred building had been displaced as a group, and was no longer present to be impressed or intimidated.
ISSN:0020-7438
1471-6380
DOI:10.1017/S0020743814000567