Spolia Reincarnated: Second Life of Spaces, Materials, Objects in Anatolia from Antiquity to the Ottoman Period
10th RCAC (Koc University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations-Istanbul) Annual Symposium, 5-6 December 2015.
The symposium focuses on various forms and types of reuse in the cultures that developed in Anatolia and Eastern Mediterranean from Antiquity up to
the Ottoman period. Through a diverse range of presentations, emerging from the current research in spolia studies, the symposium intends to discuss
the reuse of architectural elements, decoration and sculpture, reuse of space and buildings, as well as the reuse of objects (from metal
objects to textiles). By bringing together archaeologists, art historians, historians of architecture and landscape, the aim is not only to show the
abundance and variety of examples but also to question how, through the process of reuse, space, materials and objects were reworked and changed to fit into their new contexts.
Symposium organizers: Ivana Jevtic and Suzan Yalman (Department of Archaeology and History of Art, Koc University-Istanbul).
Saturday 05/12/2015
10.00-10:40 Finbarr Barry Flood, New York University
Keynote Lecture: Seeing Time: Alteration, Cumulation and the Palimpsest Artwork
Session I: “Setting the Stage”: Going Back to the Origins of the Term and the Concept of Spolia
11:15 – 11:40 Inge Uytterhoeven, Koc University
‘Spolia, -iorum, (n): From Spoils of War to Re-Used Building Materials. The History of a Latin Term
11:40-12:05 Philipp Niewohner, German Archaeological Institute, Berlin
Varietas and Spolia in East and West: The Origins of an Aesthetic Concept and Its Application to the Re-Use of Marbles in Late Antiquity and the Early Byzantine Period
Session II: Revival or Survival: Spolia, Memory and Legitimacy
13:40 – 14:05 Elif Keser Kayaalp, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir
Spolia and Classicism in the Mosques of Diyarbakır (Amid) and Silvan (Mayyafariqin)
14:05 – 14:30 Livia Bevilacqua, Universita Ca’ Foscari, Venice
Spolia on City Gates in the Thirteenth Century: Byzantium and Italy
14:30 – 14:55 Scott Redford, SOAS, London
Seljuk Spolia
Session III: Spolia and Ideology: Modes and Motives of Re-Use
15:50 – 16:15 Suna Cagaptay, Bahcesehir University, Istanbul
On the Beaks of the Double-Headed Eagle: Spolia in Re and Appropriation in Medieval Anatolia and Beyond
16:15 – 16:40 Maria Kiprovska, University of Sofia
Plunder and Appropriation at the Borderland: Representation, Legitimacy and
Ideological Use of Spolia by Members of the Ottoman Frontier Nobility
16:40 – 17:05 Tugba Tanyeri Erdemir, Middle East Technical University, Ankara
Remains of the Day: Converted Anatolian Churches
17:05-17:30 Summary and Discussion
Sunday 06/12/2015
Session IV: Spolia and Imperial Agenda: Transformation of Monuments and the Image of the City
10:10 – 10:50 Alessandra Guiglia, Claudia Barsanti, University of Sapienza, Rome
Spolia in Saint Sophia in Constantinople from Justinian to the Ottoman Period: The Phenomenon of Multilayered Re-Use
11:05 – 11:30 Nicholas Melvani, Koc University Stavros Niarchos Center for Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, Istanbul
Late, Middle, and Early Byzantine Sculpture in Palaiologan Constantinople
11:30 – 11:55 Unver Rustem, Johns Hopkins University and University of Cambridge
Byzantine Legacies and the Ottoman Baroque: Architectural Consciousness in Eighteenth Century Istanbul
Session V: Second Life of Objects: Portable Items as Spolia
14:10 – 14:35 Konstantina Karterouli, The Catholic University of America, Washington DC
Re-Use of the Byzantine Object in the West c. 1200: Assimilation or Appropriation?
14:35 – 15:00 Elena Papastavrou, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports and Nikolas Vryzidis, British School at Athens
“Sacred Patchwork”: The Greek Church’s Patterns of Textile Re-Use During the Ottoman Era
15:15 – 15:40 Pagona Papadopoulou, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki
The Afterlife of Coins: The Re-Use of Late Antique and Medieval Coins for Apotropaic, Religious and Ideological Purposes
16:10-16:50 Paul Magdalino, University of Saint Andrews, Scotland
Concluding Remarks
16:50-17:15 Ivana Jevtic, Koc University
General Discussion and Closing Remarks
Lecturer, Ph.D. Position/Assistantship, and Postdoctoral Fellowship in Urban Studies
Urban Studies at the University of Basel is rooted in disciplinary approaches of architecture, geography, anthropology, social and political theory, and history, and oriented towards global Southern and postcolonial questions. With a regional focus on Africa, Europe,...