How Quickly They Forget: Why Hagia Sophia Matters for Heritage and Humanity

Just a year and a half after the conversion of Hagia Sophia, the most emblematic church-monument of Orthodox Christendom, to a mosque by the Turkish government, the event is all but forgotten. Soon thereafter, another jewel of Byzantine architecture, the Chora Church, was also converted. Although Greeks and Christians around the world initially protested, their response was short-lived and had no effect. The problem directly speaks to the issue of the fate of world monuments in the hands of nations and heritages different than the ones that created them. More importantly, the subdued response points to a larger problem: a potential identity crisis for Hellenism. Professor Elizabeth H. Prodromou is Faculty Director of the Initiative on Religion, Law, and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She is a Co-President of Religions for Peace, and is Nonresident Senior Fellow and Co-Chair of the Working Group on Christians and Religious Pluralism in the Middle East at the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom. Professor Prodromou served as Vice Chair and Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (2004–2012) and as a member of the U.S. Secretary of State's Religion & Foreign Policy Working Group (2011–2015). Her research interests focus on geopolitics and religion, as well as democratization and religious pluralism, with particular focus on the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.