The monument of the present: the Fossati restoration of Hagia Sophia (1847-9)

Abstract

In 1847, architect Gaspare Fossati embarked on an ambitious restoration project for Hagia Sophia on the orders of Sultan Abdülmecid I. The Sultan, his bureaucrats, and the myriad agents of the restoration chose the restored monument to act as the face of a modern Ottoman state and society when Tanzimat was searching for forms that communicated social and political cohesion. This article builds its arguments on the exchange between the French-language Ottoman press and European newspapers regarding the restoration of Hagia Sophia, which culminate in the analysis of a crucial—but neglected—visual document: the commemorative lithographic album (1852) published by Gaspare Fossati with the support of Sultan Abdülmecid I. The Album and the Francophone press embraced the diverse identities of the building – Byzantine cathedral, imperial mosque, and world heritage monument— to present the political and social vision behind this co-existence of differences as distinctively Ottoman. Through their efforts, the restored Hagia Sophia was presented as a privileged historical-aesthetic site and a living monument, where the conciliation between tradition and reform seemed possible.