The Battleground of Imperial Memory: The Antique Spoliation of the Complex of Algerian Gazi Hasan Paşa on Kos and Its Contestation

Abstract

ABSTRACT The mosque complex of Gazi Hasan Paşa is a remarkable synthesis of Ottoman and classical culture in which each structure includes ancient building materials from nearby ruins. This article analyzes the heretofore unexamined use of antique remains with a multidisciplinary approach, incorporating history, archaeology, and art history. The mosque complex positions the Ottoman Empire as the heir of ancient Mediterranean civilization. This claim posed an ideological threat to Western European viewers because they claimed the inheritance of Mediterranean civilization themselves. Western European authors erased Ottoman reuse of ancient materials from their accounts in order to ideologically exclude the Ottomans from the legacy of ancient civilization, thereby characterizing them as “barbarians.” These same authors criticized the Ottomans for engaging with antiquity too much when the Ottomans began resisting colonial archaeology. Ottoman engagement with antiquity in Gazi Hasan Paşa’s complex thus became a venue to contest imperial identities.