Chi segue questo blog, sa bene che spesso scrivo di tutti quei luoghi sacri di Istanbul che attraggono fedeli di tutte le religioni: come il pellegrinaggio del 23 aprile a Büyükada, la “Chiesa del 1° giorno del mese“, la chiesa di Sant’Antonio. Chi ancora non lo ha fatto, può leggersi i miei vecchi post.
LEGGI ANCHE: Il pellegrinaggio di San Giorgio a BüyükadaI
Ho potuto farlo di nuovo – per Al-Monitor – dedicando un articolo a una mostra straordinaria al centro culturale DEPO, sempre qui a Istanbul: una mostra nata dalle ricerche del professor Dionigi Albera, che hanno dato vita a una grande mostra al Mucem di Marsiglia nel 2015. La mostra ha viaggiato, da Marrakesh a Salonicco, ogni volta adattata al contesto locale; ed è arrivata a Istanbul, dov’è in programma fino al 14 luglio. Sarà poi ad Ankara, ma a quanto sembra non ci son opzioni valide per portarla anche in Italia.
LEGGI ANCHE: La chiesa del primo giorno del mese di Istanbul
Qui vi riporto come al solito un paio di paragrafi, l’articolo completo potete leggerlo – in libero accesso – sul sito di Al-Monitor: “Different faiths, shared sites explored in Istanbul“. Le foto però – mie – le trovate solo qui!
LEGGI ANCHE: Natale a Sant’Antonio (di Istanbul)
[…]
“Shared Sacred Sites,” an exhibition at DEPO, a cultural center in Istanbul, recounts situations past and present of cross-cultural coexistence from North Africa to the Balkans to Anatolia. Bringing together photographs, documentaries, devotional objects and other ethnographic materials, the exhibition is a colorful antidote to the essentialist perceptions of the world in black-and-white that seem to dominate public discourse today. It powerfully challenges and undermines the prevailing narrative of us versus them.
[…]
The exhibition presents Istanbul, like Jerusalem, as a holy city, as a “symbolic epicenter” in the spiritual life of Christian, Jewish and Muslim adherents alike. The city once hosted sacred relics of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, including the crown of thorns (now in Paris and unscathed in the fire that recently ravaged Notre Dame). It still hosts the staff of Moses and the mantle of Muhammad, in the Topkapi Palace, and some fragments of the holy rock of Mecca, the Kaaba, are displayed on the walls of the Mosque of Sokollu Mehmed Pasha and in the tomb of Suleiman the Magnificent. Above all, the highly diverse backgrounds of the inhabitants of Istanbul have encouraged the crossing of confessional boundaries — more often with Muslims visiting Christian churches and shrines — and the emergence of shared practices of worship through proximal influence and imitation.
[…]
Sharing devotion does not always, however, mean coming together in a spirit of reciprocal respect. On the contrary, in some instances it means just the opposite — exclusive separation. This is the case with the Holy Land, where a few sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims in the past — for instance, the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and the tomb of Rachael in Bethlehem — are now, due to political conflict, divided into areas reserved for the different religions or are experienced in turns. This is the exception, rather than the rule.
