For Whom the Bell Tolls? Towards a Flexible Concept of Authenticity for Religious Heritage Buildings in Political Conflict Zones – Case of Northern Cyprus

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the possibility of developing an understanding of the concept of authenticity through the understanding of authenticity in architectural terms, specifically religious heritage buildings in areas of political conflict. Although authenticity has been a continuous subject of debate in the field of heritage studies, however, we argue that difficulties in coming to terms with its application in areas of conflict are still persistent. The study uses the case study of the Agios Synesios Church in North Cyprus, built around the Twelfth century, and is still in use by the Greek Cypriot minorities who continued to live on the island following its division in 1974 and the forced displacement of both Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities to either part of the island. Based on observation of the church and its surrounding context, the research shows that coming to terms with authenticity is problematic for the church since the prolongation of the Greek Cypriot way of life has been compromised due to political fluctuations. The argument suggests that once the authenticity of a religious building is assessed as a heritage asset, a flexible concept of authenticity is essential to consider in areas of political conflicts especially when its original context no longer exists.

KEYWORDS:

• Heritage
• context
• authenticity
• flexible authenticity
• religious heritage buildings
• church

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yara Saifi

Yara Saifi is an associate professor of architecture at the Department of Architecture at AL Quds University in Jerusalem, where she has been the department head since 2015. She was the Dean of Hind Al Husseini – Faculty of Arts at Al-Quds University. Her research interests are architectural aesthetics, design, and conflict studies. Saifi is a member of different committees related to urban planning, restoration, and conservation of historic buildings and the MA program in Jerusalem Studies at AQU. She was also a local juror to the 2018 RIBA Awards for International Excellence in Palestine.

Hülya Yüceer

Hülya Yüceer is an architect who specialized in conservation during her studies at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara and has experience in private offices, governmental institutions in Turkey. In 2010, she acted as team coordinator for the UNDP-PFF project ‘Study of Cultural Heritage in Cyprus – Famagusta Chapter’ during her employment at the Eastern Mediterranean University in Cyprus. She carried out research in English Heritage and attended the ‘First Aid to Cultural Heritage in Times of Conflict’ course at ICCROM in 2011. She currently works at Izmir Institute of Technology, Department of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage which she joined in September 2019.

Yonca Hurol

Yonca Hurol has worked in the Department of Architecture at Eastern Mediterranean University since 1998. Previously, she taught at the Middle East Technical University and Gazi University. Her fields of research include the tectonics of structural systems, tectonics, ethics in architecture, and architectural research. She has also written a book entitled: “The Tectonics of Structural Systems – An Architectural Approach” which was published by Routledge of Taylor and Francis in 2016. She is one of the two editors of Open House International.