Patricia Blessing | Stanford University (original) (raw)
Books by Patricia Blessing
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022
In this book, Patricia Blessing explores the emergence of Ottoman architecture in the fifteenth c... more In this book, Patricia Blessing explores the emergence of Ottoman architecture in the fifteenth century and its connection with broader geographical contexts. Analyzing how transregional exchange shaped building practices, she examines how workers from Anatolia, the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and Iran and Central Asia participated in key construction projects. She also demonstrates how drawn, scalable models on paper served as templates for architectural decorations and supplemented collaborations that involved the mobility of workers. Blessing reveals how the creation of centralized workshops led to the emergence of a clearly defined imperial Ottoman style by 1500, when the flexibility and experimentation of the preceding century was levelled. Her book radically transforms our understanding of Ottoman architecture by exposing the diverse and fluid nature of its formative period.
This book is a study of Islamic architecture in Anatolia following the Mongol conquest in 1243. C... more This book is a study of Islamic architecture in Anatolia following the Mongol conquest in 1243. Complex shifts in rule, movements of population, and cultural transformations took place that affected architecture on multiple levels. Beginning with the Mongol conquest of Anatolia, and ending with the demise of the Ilkhanid Empire, centered in Iran, in the 1330s, this book considers how the integration of Anatolia into the Mongol world system transformed architecture and patronage in the region. Traditionally, this period has been studied within the larger narrative of a progression from Seljuk to Ottoman rule and architecture, in a historiography that privileges Turkish national identity. Once Anatolia is studied within the framework of the Mongol Empire, however, the region no longer appears as an isolated case; rather it is integrated into a broader context beyond the modern borders of Turkey, Iran, and the Caucasus republics.
The monuments built during this period served a number of purposes: mosques were places of prayer and congregation, madrasas were used to teach Islamic law and theology, and caravanserais secured trade routes for merchants and travelers. This study analyzes architecture on multiple, overlapping levels, based on a detailed observation of the monuments. The layers of information extracted from the monuments themselves, from written sources in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, and from historical photographs, shape an image of Islamic architecture in medieval Anatolia that reflects the complexities of this frontier region. New patrons emerged, craftsmen migrated between neighboring regions, and the use of locally available materials fostered the transformation of designs in ways that are closely tied to specific places. Starting from these sources, this book untangles the intertwined narratives of architecture, history, and religion to provide a broader understanding of frontier culture in the medieval Middle East, with its complex interaction of local, regional, and trans-regional identities.
Textile Museum Journal , 2018
This volume focuses on the mobile nature of textile patterns in the East and West during the Midd... more This volume focuses on the mobile nature of textile patterns in the East and West during the Middle Ages and investigates the question of cultural specificity in the use of textile imitations in a range of media. As coveted objects of trade and diplomatic gift exchange, tex- tiles were widely distributed using the cross-cultural networks between Byzantium, the Islamic world, and East Asia. Within this broader world of medieval textile exchange, the notion of textile patterns that are adapted in architecture, ceramics, metalwork, and manuscripts stands at the center of this volume. Questions to be discussed are the portability of textile patterns, the adaptation of textile motifs in a variety of media, and the appropriation of textile forms and patterns from other cultural contexts. Twenty years ago, Lisa Golombek argued for a ‘draped universe of Islam’, ascribing to Muslim culture a sensibility particularly attuned to textiles and their patterns. Golombek rightly emphasized the rich textile production of the Islamic world and the use of architectural decoration that refers to woven models. While this argument is certainly convincing, considering the fluidity with which textile patterns appear in other materials and contexts and how textiles evoke monumental decoration, the phenomenon itself is not exclusively Islamic. Rather, it is part of a broader medieval sensibility that is finely attuned to the subtleties of textiles and intrigued by the possibility to move their patterns and texture back and forth between fabrics, walls, and other objects. The topics of articles in this volume of The Textile Museum Journal range from representations of jewelry in late antique textiles, silks with bird motifs produced in both Iran and the Byzantine Empire in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, to women’s clothing in the fourteenth-century Mongol courts of Iran and China.
Anatolia was home to a large number of polities in the medieval period. Given its location at the... more Anatolia was home to a large number of polities in the medieval period. Given its location at the geographical and chronological juncture between Byzantines and the Ottomans, its story tends to be read through the Seljuk experience. This obscures the multiple experiences and spaces of Anatolia under the Byzantine empire, Turko-Muslim dynasties contemporary to the Seljuks, the Mongol Ilkhanids, and the various beyliks of eastern and western Anatolia.
In recent years, Byzantine, Saljuq, Armenian and Georgian architecture have been increasingly stu... more In recent years, Byzantine, Saljuq, Armenian and Georgian architecture have been increasingly studiedin
a cross-cultural perspective that takes into account
the varied geography and cultures of the region. The
historiography of Anatolia, particularly, has received
close attention as the medieval history and architecture of this period are reevalutated.
1
Within this complex historical context, the connections between architecture in the various regions are often blurred by
divided historiographies, and by the limits of primary
sources. Bringing together studies on various aspects
of architecture opens fruitful avenues for cross-re
gional comparisons that are difficult to maintain in a
single study. The articles in this volume engage with
recent scholarship by investigating case studies from
these regions.
Papers by Patricia Blessing
Usur al-Wusta, 2024
When studying tile revetments of monuments in Iran from the late twelfth to the mid-fourteenth ce... more When studying tile revetments of monuments in Iran from the late twelfth to the mid-fourteenth century and in the fifteenth-century Ottoman Empire, one is faced with two very different narratives as to how the design and production of these revetments came about. The luster tiles installed in Iran and beyond were produced in one city, Kashan, by well-documented families of tile-makers who left a wide range of signed tiles and vessels. Tiles produced in the Ottoman Empire between the 1410s and the 1470s are attributed to the "Masters of Tabriz," an elusive group construed to be a multi-generational, itinerant workshop based on a single signature on the mihrab of the mosque-zāviye of the Ottoman sultan Mehmed I (r. 1413-21) in Bursa (1419-21). In a comparative study of these two contexts, this article offers insights into ways of producing and logistics of transporting and installing large-scale tile revetments, and argues that in the Ottoman case, too, production may have taken place at a single site.
Research on premodern textiles from the Islamic world (and elsewhere) often begins with the task ... more Research on premodern textiles from the Islamic world (and elsewhere) often begins with the task of tracking fragments that originally belonged to the same piece. This fragmentary character of textiles is often the result of early collection practices, which value textiles as examples of patterns for new designs, rather than as functional objects. Early publications of textile research often included plates that omitted aspects such as fading and stitch marks, and reconstruction of possible use. While digital tools have made it easier to imagine and depict such textiles in their original form, the initial problem remains: How can we understand textiles as functional objects, rather than supports for motifs? This chapter argues that histories of collections are fundamental to the study of textiles, as are new ways of considering the function of textiles in their original contexts.
Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association , 2021
In this essay, we reflect on the conversion of Hagia Sophia from museum back to mosque in light o... more In this essay, we reflect on the conversion of Hagia Sophia from museum back to mosque in light of the discussions that have taken place since the transformation happened on 24 July 2020. Let us begin with the initial reactions to the museum-to-mosque conversion, especially in mainstream media in the US and Europe. In much of that reporting, Hagia Sophia's Byzantine past was emphasized, and narratives of Ottoman conquest connected to misleading notions of Islamic iconoclasm followed. Thus, the building's life as a church (537-1453) has obscured its history as a mosque (1453-1934). Among reactions to the 2020 transformation, writing that also carefully considered the Hagia Sophia's Ottoman context, and the fact that the building was affected by changes in Ottoman political and religious life over time, was slow to emerge. 1 Why does this matter? Hagia Sophia is a Byzantine monument, it is an Ottoman monument, and it was until 2020 one of modern Turkey's most important museum-monuments. This statement should be self-apparent, yet in reactions to the museum-to-mosque conversion, Hagia Sophia at times appeared only as a Byzantine monument that has now-through the insistence of Turkey's current government, fulfilling a long-time dream of right-wing politics-turned into a mosque to the detriment of its Byzantine past. We contend that this view is mistaken because it does not take into account the entire history of the building, and it neglects the multiple and complex past(s) of both the monument and the city where it is located. Interestingly in Turkey, we have a mirror image of this one-dimensional representation of Hagia Sophia, this time as a mosque. The Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453, according to the supporters of Hagia Sophia's conversion, was seen as an almost eschatological event, resulting in the building's rebirth
International Journal of Islamic Architecture, 2021
Studies on inscriptions in medieval Islamic monuments in Anatolia have primarily concentrated on ... more Studies on inscriptions in medieval Islamic monuments in Anatolia have primarily concentrated on the historical content that usually appears in these inscriptions, including the date of the foundation and the patron. Since the written sources from this region, such as chronicles and Sufi hagiographies, rarely refer to patronage with any amount of detail, monumental inscriptions often become the single source on this topic. Thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Anatolia and the Caucasus present intricate cases of the use of inscriptions within monuments that are expressions of a frontier society at the intersection between Byzantium, the Christian kingdom of the Caucasus, and the Islamic world. Based on case studies that include the Buruciye Medrese (1271-72) in Sivas (Turkey), the Yakutiye Medrese (1310) in Erzurum (Turkey) and the Selim Khan/ Orbelian Karavanserai (1330s) south of Lake Sevan (Armenia), this article discusses how inscription programs were part of carefully conceived schemes to guide the viewer. Thus, inscriptions were placed deliberately in order to create an itinerary through the building, in which the viewer is guided by the size and script of the inscriptions, their location and (for the reader able to understand the content), the text itself. Often more so than chronicles of the time, these inscriptions reflect the complex dynamics of identity, language, and frontier cultures that were at stake in the region.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022
In this book, Patricia Blessing explores the emergence of Ottoman architecture in the fifteenth c... more In this book, Patricia Blessing explores the emergence of Ottoman architecture in the fifteenth century and its connection with broader geographical contexts. Analyzing how transregional exchange shaped building practices, she examines how workers from Anatolia, the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and Iran and Central Asia participated in key construction projects. She also demonstrates how drawn, scalable models on paper served as templates for architectural decorations and supplemented collaborations that involved the mobility of workers. Blessing reveals how the creation of centralized workshops led to the emergence of a clearly defined imperial Ottoman style by 1500, when the flexibility and experimentation of the preceding century was levelled. Her book radically transforms our understanding of Ottoman architecture by exposing the diverse and fluid nature of its formative period.
This book is a study of Islamic architecture in Anatolia following the Mongol conquest in 1243. C... more This book is a study of Islamic architecture in Anatolia following the Mongol conquest in 1243. Complex shifts in rule, movements of population, and cultural transformations took place that affected architecture on multiple levels. Beginning with the Mongol conquest of Anatolia, and ending with the demise of the Ilkhanid Empire, centered in Iran, in the 1330s, this book considers how the integration of Anatolia into the Mongol world system transformed architecture and patronage in the region. Traditionally, this period has been studied within the larger narrative of a progression from Seljuk to Ottoman rule and architecture, in a historiography that privileges Turkish national identity. Once Anatolia is studied within the framework of the Mongol Empire, however, the region no longer appears as an isolated case; rather it is integrated into a broader context beyond the modern borders of Turkey, Iran, and the Caucasus republics.
The monuments built during this period served a number of purposes: mosques were places of prayer and congregation, madrasas were used to teach Islamic law and theology, and caravanserais secured trade routes for merchants and travelers. This study analyzes architecture on multiple, overlapping levels, based on a detailed observation of the monuments. The layers of information extracted from the monuments themselves, from written sources in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, and from historical photographs, shape an image of Islamic architecture in medieval Anatolia that reflects the complexities of this frontier region. New patrons emerged, craftsmen migrated between neighboring regions, and the use of locally available materials fostered the transformation of designs in ways that are closely tied to specific places. Starting from these sources, this book untangles the intertwined narratives of architecture, history, and religion to provide a broader understanding of frontier culture in the medieval Middle East, with its complex interaction of local, regional, and trans-regional identities.
Textile Museum Journal , 2018
This volume focuses on the mobile nature of textile patterns in the East and West during the Midd... more This volume focuses on the mobile nature of textile patterns in the East and West during the Middle Ages and investigates the question of cultural specificity in the use of textile imitations in a range of media. As coveted objects of trade and diplomatic gift exchange, tex- tiles were widely distributed using the cross-cultural networks between Byzantium, the Islamic world, and East Asia. Within this broader world of medieval textile exchange, the notion of textile patterns that are adapted in architecture, ceramics, metalwork, and manuscripts stands at the center of this volume. Questions to be discussed are the portability of textile patterns, the adaptation of textile motifs in a variety of media, and the appropriation of textile forms and patterns from other cultural contexts. Twenty years ago, Lisa Golombek argued for a ‘draped universe of Islam’, ascribing to Muslim culture a sensibility particularly attuned to textiles and their patterns. Golombek rightly emphasized the rich textile production of the Islamic world and the use of architectural decoration that refers to woven models. While this argument is certainly convincing, considering the fluidity with which textile patterns appear in other materials and contexts and how textiles evoke monumental decoration, the phenomenon itself is not exclusively Islamic. Rather, it is part of a broader medieval sensibility that is finely attuned to the subtleties of textiles and intrigued by the possibility to move their patterns and texture back and forth between fabrics, walls, and other objects. The topics of articles in this volume of The Textile Museum Journal range from representations of jewelry in late antique textiles, silks with bird motifs produced in both Iran and the Byzantine Empire in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, to women’s clothing in the fourteenth-century Mongol courts of Iran and China.
Anatolia was home to a large number of polities in the medieval period. Given its location at the... more Anatolia was home to a large number of polities in the medieval period. Given its location at the geographical and chronological juncture between Byzantines and the Ottomans, its story tends to be read through the Seljuk experience. This obscures the multiple experiences and spaces of Anatolia under the Byzantine empire, Turko-Muslim dynasties contemporary to the Seljuks, the Mongol Ilkhanids, and the various beyliks of eastern and western Anatolia.
In recent years, Byzantine, Saljuq, Armenian and Georgian architecture have been increasingly stu... more In recent years, Byzantine, Saljuq, Armenian and Georgian architecture have been increasingly studiedin
a cross-cultural perspective that takes into account
the varied geography and cultures of the region. The
historiography of Anatolia, particularly, has received
close attention as the medieval history and architecture of this period are reevalutated.
1
Within this complex historical context, the connections between architecture in the various regions are often blurred by
divided historiographies, and by the limits of primary
sources. Bringing together studies on various aspects
of architecture opens fruitful avenues for cross-re
gional comparisons that are difficult to maintain in a
single study. The articles in this volume engage with
recent scholarship by investigating case studies from
these regions.
Usur al-Wusta, 2024
When studying tile revetments of monuments in Iran from the late twelfth to the mid-fourteenth ce... more When studying tile revetments of monuments in Iran from the late twelfth to the mid-fourteenth century and in the fifteenth-century Ottoman Empire, one is faced with two very different narratives as to how the design and production of these revetments came about. The luster tiles installed in Iran and beyond were produced in one city, Kashan, by well-documented families of tile-makers who left a wide range of signed tiles and vessels. Tiles produced in the Ottoman Empire between the 1410s and the 1470s are attributed to the "Masters of Tabriz," an elusive group construed to be a multi-generational, itinerant workshop based on a single signature on the mihrab of the mosque-zāviye of the Ottoman sultan Mehmed I (r. 1413-21) in Bursa (1419-21). In a comparative study of these two contexts, this article offers insights into ways of producing and logistics of transporting and installing large-scale tile revetments, and argues that in the Ottoman case, too, production may have taken place at a single site.
Research on premodern textiles from the Islamic world (and elsewhere) often begins with the task ... more Research on premodern textiles from the Islamic world (and elsewhere) often begins with the task of tracking fragments that originally belonged to the same piece. This fragmentary character of textiles is often the result of early collection practices, which value textiles as examples of patterns for new designs, rather than as functional objects. Early publications of textile research often included plates that omitted aspects such as fading and stitch marks, and reconstruction of possible use. While digital tools have made it easier to imagine and depict such textiles in their original form, the initial problem remains: How can we understand textiles as functional objects, rather than supports for motifs? This chapter argues that histories of collections are fundamental to the study of textiles, as are new ways of considering the function of textiles in their original contexts.
Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association , 2021
In this essay, we reflect on the conversion of Hagia Sophia from museum back to mosque in light o... more In this essay, we reflect on the conversion of Hagia Sophia from museum back to mosque in light of the discussions that have taken place since the transformation happened on 24 July 2020. Let us begin with the initial reactions to the museum-to-mosque conversion, especially in mainstream media in the US and Europe. In much of that reporting, Hagia Sophia's Byzantine past was emphasized, and narratives of Ottoman conquest connected to misleading notions of Islamic iconoclasm followed. Thus, the building's life as a church (537-1453) has obscured its history as a mosque (1453-1934). Among reactions to the 2020 transformation, writing that also carefully considered the Hagia Sophia's Ottoman context, and the fact that the building was affected by changes in Ottoman political and religious life over time, was slow to emerge. 1 Why does this matter? Hagia Sophia is a Byzantine monument, it is an Ottoman monument, and it was until 2020 one of modern Turkey's most important museum-monuments. This statement should be self-apparent, yet in reactions to the museum-to-mosque conversion, Hagia Sophia at times appeared only as a Byzantine monument that has now-through the insistence of Turkey's current government, fulfilling a long-time dream of right-wing politics-turned into a mosque to the detriment of its Byzantine past. We contend that this view is mistaken because it does not take into account the entire history of the building, and it neglects the multiple and complex past(s) of both the monument and the city where it is located. Interestingly in Turkey, we have a mirror image of this one-dimensional representation of Hagia Sophia, this time as a mosque. The Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453, according to the supporters of Hagia Sophia's conversion, was seen as an almost eschatological event, resulting in the building's rebirth
International Journal of Islamic Architecture, 2021
Studies on inscriptions in medieval Islamic monuments in Anatolia have primarily concentrated on ... more Studies on inscriptions in medieval Islamic monuments in Anatolia have primarily concentrated on the historical content that usually appears in these inscriptions, including the date of the foundation and the patron. Since the written sources from this region, such as chronicles and Sufi hagiographies, rarely refer to patronage with any amount of detail, monumental inscriptions often become the single source on this topic. Thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Anatolia and the Caucasus present intricate cases of the use of inscriptions within monuments that are expressions of a frontier society at the intersection between Byzantium, the Christian kingdom of the Caucasus, and the Islamic world. Based on case studies that include the Buruciye Medrese (1271-72) in Sivas (Turkey), the Yakutiye Medrese (1310) in Erzurum (Turkey) and the Selim Khan/ Orbelian Karavanserai (1330s) south of Lake Sevan (Armenia), this article discusses how inscription programs were part of carefully conceived schemes to guide the viewer. Thus, inscriptions were placed deliberately in order to create an itinerary through the building, in which the viewer is guided by the size and script of the inscriptions, their location and (for the reader able to understand the content), the text itself. Often more so than chronicles of the time, these inscriptions reflect the complex dynamics of identity, language, and frontier cultures that were at stake in the region.
The city of Ani was a crucial node for trade until shifts in trade routes towards the Black Sea t... more The city of Ani was a crucial node for trade until shifts in trade routes towards the Black Sea took place in in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. Eventually, these shifts contributed to the city’s decline in the mid-fourteenth century. The present chapter uses this framework of medieval trade along the westernmost reaches of the Silk Road(s) in order to investigate a commodity largely absent from the archaeological record: textiles. While textiles, particularly silk from Central Asia and Iran, doubtlessly played a central role in the merchant community of Ani, the fabrics in question have not been preserved on site. This is not surprising considering the wet winter weather in Ani, where textiles would not have survived in archaeological contexts. Nevertheless, textile motifs in some monuments at Ani, and in objects associated with the site, allow me to venture into suggestions that the city was closely connected to the various textile cultures of medieval Anatolia by way of both representations of textiles and the rare extant fragments produced in that region.
Muqarnas, 2019
In the second quarter of the fifteenth century, a new phenomenon appears nearly in Ottoman archit... more In the second quarter of the fifteenth century, a new phenomenon appears nearly in Ottoman architecture: tiles with blue-and-white decoration, associated with tile-makers from Tabriz. These tiles appear most prominently the Muradiye in Edirne, completed in 839/1435-36. They mark the beginning of an aesthetic shift, away from black-line (or cuerda seca) tiles inspired by Timurid and Aqquyunlu models, toward the blue-and-white tiles and vessels of the so-called Baba Naqqaş style of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century. The mihrab of the Muradiye features both kinds of tiles, thus illustrating this shift at its early stages. Within the parameters of an international Timurid style, the artistic production of this period, and tile-work in particular, has been considered an offshoot of Timurid court patronage in eastern Iran and Central Asia. In the larger context of the fifteenth-century Islamic world, however, related tiles and vessels were also produced in Damascus and Cairo. This article examines the tiles of the Muradiye Mosque within the framework of artistic centers, the movements of motifs, objects, and makers, and their impact on architecture in the fifteenth-century Ottoman Empire.
Studies in Iconography, 2019
This article discusses the relationship between textiles and stucco decoration, and the signifi- ... more This article discusses the relationship between textiles and stucco decoration, and the signifi- cation that this implies, in late medieval Iberia, focusing on the Monastery of Las Huelgas in Burgos. In the late thirteenth century, stucco panels were added to the vault of the Gothic cloister in this Cistercian monastery, built under royal patronage. These panels contain a range of motifs derived from textiles produced in the eastern Mediterranean, as well as in the Muslim-ruled cities of al-Andalus. Such textiles were found in royal burials, located in the church of the monastery. The stucco decoration stands in a complex relationship vis-à- vis textiles that were used for royal clothing. Without copying textiles exactly, the flexible medium of stucco evokes silk fabrics that would also be worn during ceremonial events at the site. Thus, a complex textile spatiality emerges that functions most readily with textiles present. Yet, this connection also works—by way of haptic evocation—when textiles were only present in the evocation rendered in stucco.
This chapter focuses on the question of how the so-called Alhambra Vases reflect the larger aesth... more This chapter focuses on the question of how the so-called Alhambra Vases reflect the larger aesthetic principles of the fourteenth-century Nasrid palace in Granada. The spaces of the palace are carefully crafted to entice the senses at various levels, with the description of beauty in poetic epigraphy, the visual appeal, the presence of the sound of water, and the smells of flowers in the garden–motifs that also appear in the poetry. The large-scale Alhambra Vases, objects that connect to these spaces in their aesthetic engagement, appeal to perception with poetic inscriptions and through complex modes of ornament and the luster of their glaze. This chapter argues that the vases are both small pieces in the Gesamtkunstwerk of the Alhambra and pars pro toto, in that they mirror the aesthetic devices employed in the monument as a whole, and can thus provide further inroads into a multisensory understanding of the palaces.
![Research paper thumbnail of “Architecture, Scale, and Empire: Monuments in Anatolia between Mamluk and Ilkhanid Aspirations,” Вопросы всеобщей истории архитектуры [Questions of the History of World Architecture, Moscow] 11, no. 2 (December, 2018): 114-131.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/60616872/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Вопросы всеобщей истории архитектуры [Questions of the History of World Architecture, Moscow], 2018
International Journal of Middle East Studies, 2024
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 2016
International Journal of Turkish Studies 20. 1/2 (2014): 115-118.
Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, 2008
Encyclopedia of the Bible Online
This dissertation focuses on the development of Islamic architecture in Asia Minor (today’s Turke... more This dissertation focuses on the development of Islamic architecture in Asia Minor (today’s Turkey) throughout the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. It proposes a study of the architecture of medieval Anatolia within the parameters of cross-cultural exchange, and of trans-imperial networks fostered by trade and the general mobility of craftsmen, merchants, and scholars.
These far-reaching economic and cultural networks were facilitated by the span of the Mongol Empire, into which Anatolia was integrated in the second half of the thirteenth century, under the so-called Pax Mongolica. They fostered the exchange of ideas and the formation of fluid styles – Byzantine, Seljuk, Armenian in the case of Anatolia – and identities among different religious (mostly Christian and Muslim) and ethnic groups. Paying close attention to the fluid identities of medieval Anatolia, this dissertation discusses cultural networks within a geographical, rather than a political framework, that serves as the breeding ground for creativity and innovation in architecture as Anatolia progressively developed from a Christian to a Muslim region.
This dissertation questions the exclusive role ascribed to dynastic patronage in the shaping of architectural style, which is especially relevant in a frontier region such as Anatolia, rife with instability and shifting boundaries. Thus, this study argues that in medieval Anatolia, the discrepancy between the levels of politics, patronage, and stylistic developments is particularly acute, even more so with the increasing influence of the Mongol Ilkhanids throughout the second half of the thirteenth century. Political, economic, and cultural factors shaped the ways in which the potential of Eurasian networks was translated into architecture differently in adjacent regions.
In Anatolia, these dynamics shifted several times within a matter of years, taking the complexity of architecture beyond the correlation between rule, patronage, and style suggested by historiographical categories such as Seljuk or Ilkhanid. Close analysis of selected monuments, paying attention to the details of structure and decoration, are combined with primary sources in order to render both the visual and textual understanding of architecture in thirteenth-century Anatolia.
Responding to: Hagia Sophia: From Museum to Mosque The first khutbah in Hagia Sophia after 86 yea... more Responding to: Hagia Sophia: From Museum to Mosque The first khutbah in Hagia Sophia after 86 years was read by Ali Erbaş, head of the Directorate of Religious Affairs, on July 24, 2020. Erbaş ascended the minbar decorated with green standards, holding a sword, two insignia signifying that a mosque is a space not only for the connection between believers and God, but also believers and political authority. Contrary to common belief, in the Ottoman context the sword was not the symbol of conquest, but rather of the ruler. Still, both for those who advocated for the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque and those who opposed this change, this first Friday prayer signifies a reconquest. The conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque has been on the political agenda of Islamist and conservative nationalists in Turkey at least since the 1950s. It was President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who decided on the conversion of the monument from museum back to mosque, as he had promised during his tenure as the first Islamist mayor of Istanbul in the 1990s. To some of his followers, Erdoğan is the second conqueror of the city, after Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. This belief requires creative interpretation of Quran passage 34: 15, baldatun tayyibatun wa rabbun ghafurun (literally translated, "a fair land and an indulgent lord"). In the Erdoğanist interpretation, the verse alludes to Mr. Erdoğan himself, by way of his middle name, Tayyip, and the "fair land" is Istanbul, helped by the fact that the numeric values (abjad) of the two words' Arabic letters conveniently add up to 857, the year of the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in the Islamic calendar. Given these promises and narratives, why did Erdoğan wait for so many years to make this decision? What does he expect from this move, for his domestic and foreign policy? Would it help him solve the political crisis caused by his diminishing popularity, especially among youth and women? Although this is clearly Erdogan's decision, why did he prefer that this political move be covered by a legal ruling by the Council of State, instead of a presidential decree? These are important questions, but in this essay, we would like to divert the conversation and discuss how the conquest narrative, which is shared by those who oppose and support the decision, does not do justice to Hagia Sophia and its architecturally, spiritually, and emotionally charged history.