Contrasting national edifices

UPON my first visit to Istanbul in 2010 I wrote: “The Hagia Sophia is quite unlike any other building I’ve been in: enormous Islamic calligraphy just metres away from truly ancient but relatively recently uncovered mosaics of Byzantine emperors and empresses flanking Jesus Christ. It was a church from 360 until 1453 when Mehmed the Conqueror had it converted into a mosque, which it remained until Ataturk turned it into a museum in 1935. The whole concept is quite unfathomable to a Malaysian: imagine a Langkasukan Hindu temple having been converted into a mosque and surviving to this day.”

Indeed, in India there are a few mosques still standing that were once Hindu temples (or on the site of one), which is a topic of contention today as religious polarisation comes to the fore.