Introduction: The Evolution of a Lieu de Mémoire from Intentional Commemorative to Age-Value

In “Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mémoire,” Pierre Nora writes that: 

“it is this very push and pull that produces lieux de mémoire—moments of history torn away from the movement of history, then returned” (12)

Although fairly intangible, this suggests that lieux de mémoire are created when time is stopped and a singular moment or event is framed, only to be viewed once again in the distant future (“then returned”). Nora continues on to describe lieux de mémoire as deliberate, because “there is no spontaneous memory” (12). This is perhaps a more digested description, suggesting that these objects are neither accidentally created nor the by-product of a greater process.

Later in his piece, Nora states that lieux de mémoire must be material, symbolic, and functional (19). They are often the objects of a ritual, representative of a will to remember, and able to do the following:

“to stop time, to block the work of forgetting, to establish a state of things, to immortalize death, to materialize the immaterial” (19)

The Little Hagia Sophia in Istanbul is a lieu de mémoire, as per the definitions above. In its early history, the Little Hagia Sophia carries significant intentional commemorative value, while in its more recent history, it comes to carry age-value, to use Alois Reigl’s terms. Understanding how the monument has changed in its value can better reveal how it serves as a lieu de mémoire.