Abstract
The Effect of Spatial Change on the Visitor Experience in Religious Tourism: The Case of Hagia Sophia Mosque
Many buildings have been constructed around the world according to cultural and religious diversity of communities. Motifs have distinguished of these structures from each other, they have taken on the witness of civilizations. The Anatolian, has been coming to the fore with its spectacular cultural structure since known history. The modern humanity began with the Sumerians, has reached its final stage with the religious and architectural works of the the Byzantium, Seljuk’s, the Ottoman’s. One of these buildings, the Hagia Sophia Mosque, was used as a cathedral during the Byzantium. The building, which was turned into a mosque after Fatih conquered Constantinople, was turned into a museum to eliminate the interreligious conflict during the Turkey. Hagia Sophia, which has been in the status of a museum for virtually 80 years, was turn over from status of a museum in July 2020. UNESCO has made a statement that the location of Hagia Sophia, which is on the World Cultural Heritage List, will be revised. In this research, 40 people who visited the Hagia Sophia Mosque, which is one of the prominent values of Turkey in terms of religious tourism, were interviewed. The aim of the research is to measure and understand the visit experience obtained by visitors according to the status of Hagia Sophia as a museum and mosque. The data were collected using semi-structured interview technique and interpreted comparatively with descriptive analysis technique. According to the results of the research, it has been determined that visitors get more visiting experience while Hagia Sophia is in the status of a museum. In addition, it has been revealed that the discussions about being revised from the World Cultural Heritage List are an unfair and unwarranted move.
Keywords
Religious Tourism, UNESCO, Word Cultural Herigate, Hagia Sophia
