Discuss your thoughts about the Hagia Sophia as a Byzantine work of architecture or discuss the impact of its controversial return to being a mosque.

Humanities assignment

For this post you will need to read the information provided about the Byzantine church of Hagia Sophia and watch the short videos. Since this building goes from being a Byzantine Christian church to an Islamic mosque to a museum and back to a mosque, some of the information goes beyond the Byzantine Empire into next week’s topic of Islamic cultures and beyond.

In this post you may discuss your thoughts about the Hagia Sophia as a Byzantine work of architecture or discuss the impact of its controversial return to being a mosque. Your post needs to be a minimum of 250 words. You do not need to reply to any of the posts – but if you do, please be respectful.

1. It’s a church. It’s a mosque. It’s Hagia Sophia. TED-Ed (2014) (Links to an external site.)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRPp3jzv1Tw&list=RDLV2i0i4xIngFo&index=4

This animated video provides a good overview of the Hagia Sophia. It is from 2014 – several years before it changed from museum to mosque

2. Turkey turns iconic museum Hagia Sophia into mosque (July 2020) (Links to an external site.)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnULO83UHBU

Videos 2, 3, and 4 were all made the year the Hagia Sophia became a mosque once more.

3. HAGIA SOPHIA | FIRST VISIT AS A MOSQUE (Aug.14, 2020) (Links to an external site.)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU_RizrWnrU

4. Turkey’s Culture War Widens After Iconic Hagia Sophia Reopens As A Mosque | NBC News (Aug. 3, 2020) (Links to an external site.)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAPoCX0JTkw&list=RDLVKRPp3jzv1Tw&index=7