Clashing Temporalities of a “Smelly” Building: Sensory Politics of Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque

This paper explores the relationship between temporalities and sensory perceptions of space, focusing on the conflictive encounters that emerged after Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia was transformed from a museum into a mosque in 2020. Drawing from recent work on embodied experience and the politics of difference, the paper investigates the tensions between visitors and the everyday actors responsible for maintaining Hagia Sophia as a heritage site.

Through an analysis of the daily practices of mosque cleaners and guides, the paper examines how the new temporal rhythms of the mosque—dictated by cyclical prayer times—shape social roles and responsibilities. However, these rhythms clash with other experiences of time (Huyssen 2016; Harvey 2001; Abazi and Doja 2018), such as visitors' desire for immediate, immersive experiences (Bozoğlu 2019) and the slow, everyday politics of maintenance of decaying heritage, shaped by memories, nostalgia, and hope (Ramakrishnan, O’Reilly, and Budds 2021).

The paper also explores how these temporal conflicts produce distinct emotional and sensory effects. Smell, in particular, emerges as a central sensory element, rhythmically entering and “embodying” some bodies more than others (Thibaud 2015) and lingering in certain areas of the building (Ahmed 2014). This sensory experience reflects broader social and political dynamics, revealing tensions linked to migration, economic precarity, and questions of citizenship.

By incorporating the intersections of time and sensory encounters into a broader analysis of spatial experience, this paper offers theoretical reflections on how sociopolitical conflicts manifest in everyday practices. Following scholars who advocate for a more fluid understanding of the entanglements of bodies and things (Haraway 2016; Tsing 2015), the paper argues that heritage sites are not merely static symbols of past identities. Rather, they are dynamic spaces where conflicting temporalities create new opportunities for imagining and negotiating urban futures.