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TURKEY TO TURN MONASTERY OF STOUDIOS INTO MOSQUE
November 26, 2013 - 19:29 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The largest Byzantium monastery in Istanbul will
be converted into a mosque after its restoration next year, Hurriyet
Daily News said.
The Monastery of Stoudios, also known as the İmrahor Monument, will
be turned into a mosque and be titled İmrahor İlyas Bey Mosque. The
renovation of the mosque, which forms part of the Hagia Sophia Museum,
will follow the same fate as that of Hagia Sophia churches in Trabzon
and İznik, which had been already turned into mosques.
"I wouldn't like to speak as a member of a council but my personal
opinion is that cultural heritage shouldn't be reflected as
an antagonistic heritage. If we reflect it like this, it will
damage societies on a macro level," said Laki Vingas, acting as
representatives of the Directorate General of Foundations.
Vingas added that the issue creates grief within society, and it was
not only the Greek community's problem.
"Cultural heritage is universal heritages, meaning that they are
humanity's common heritage," he said.
İmrahor's conversion into a mosque came at a time debate continues
as to whether to reopen Hagia Sophia as a place of worship. Most
recently, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arınc has expressed his hope
to see the Hagia Sophia to be used as a mosque.
Vingas said: "My personal view is that when you are trying to create
a new vision you should be careful not to create new problems for
the future."
The Monastery of Stoudios was founded in 462 by the consul Stoudios, a
Roman patrician who had settled in Constantinople, and was consecrated
to Saint John the Baptist. It was the most important monastery of
Istanbul during the Byzantium era, also serving as the center of
Byzantine intelligentsia. The basilica was converted to a mosque,
during the period of Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II. After two major fires
in the 18th and 19th centuries, the monastery was mostly destroyed. In
1946, it was turned into a museum in line with a ministerial cabinet
decision.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/173168/
From: A. Papazian
November 26, 2013 - 19:29 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The largest Byzantium monastery in Istanbul will
be converted into a mosque after its restoration next year, Hurriyet
Daily News said.
The Monastery of Stoudios, also known as the İmrahor Monument, will
be turned into a mosque and be titled İmrahor İlyas Bey Mosque. The
renovation of the mosque, which forms part of the Hagia Sophia Museum,
will follow the same fate as that of Hagia Sophia churches in Trabzon
and İznik, which had been already turned into mosques.
"I wouldn't like to speak as a member of a council but my personal
opinion is that cultural heritage shouldn't be reflected as
an antagonistic heritage. If we reflect it like this, it will
damage societies on a macro level," said Laki Vingas, acting as
representatives of the Directorate General of Foundations.
Vingas added that the issue creates grief within society, and it was
not only the Greek community's problem.
"Cultural heritage is universal heritages, meaning that they are
humanity's common heritage," he said.
İmrahor's conversion into a mosque came at a time debate continues
as to whether to reopen Hagia Sophia as a place of worship. Most
recently, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arınc has expressed his hope
to see the Hagia Sophia to be used as a mosque.
Vingas said: "My personal view is that when you are trying to create
a new vision you should be careful not to create new problems for
the future."
The Monastery of Stoudios was founded in 462 by the consul Stoudios, a
Roman patrician who had settled in Constantinople, and was consecrated
to Saint John the Baptist. It was the most important monastery of
Istanbul during the Byzantium era, also serving as the center of
Byzantine intelligentsia. The basilica was converted to a mosque,
during the period of Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II. After two major fires
in the 18th and 19th centuries, the monastery was mostly destroyed. In
1946, it was turned into a museum in line with a ministerial cabinet
decision.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/173168/
From: A. Papazian