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| http://home.comcast.net/~in-pictures/graphics/hagia_sophia/agsofia.jpg |
I would like to pay tribute to one of the most impressive ecclesiastical structures in the world - The Hagia Sophia - - Church of the Holy Wisdom (Greek: Ἁγία Σοφία) in old Constantinople (Istanbul). It was the center of the city and indeed, the entire Eastern Holy Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) for a thousand years. As a building, it was unparalleled in size until St. Peters in Rome!
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| https://www.br.de/kultur/hagia-sophia-moschee-umwidmung-erdogan-tuerkei-kulturkampf-100.html |
It is truly one of the top ten places I have ever enjoyed visiting on planet earth!
Golden mosaic tiles reflect with an iridescent glow - designed to create the impression of "heaven on earth."
View of its dome - 31 meters (101.7 ft.) wide and 56 meters (183.7 ft.) high. Notice the size of the people compared to the building. Here's a link to Wikipedia with more information about the building and its history.
Following is a 2-minute Rick Steves video. I'm not exactly one of his fans - in fact, I find much of his description is very confused, compromised and misleading if you want to study the actual history of the church, the Byzantine Empire and Ottoman Empire, and the current status of the cultural / religious history in this part of the world.
Recently, the Hagia Sophia was once again declared to be a mosque. Here's a description of this event from Wikipedia:
>>The complex remained a mosque until 1931, when it was closed to the public for four years. It was re-opened in 1935 as a museum by the secular Republic of Turkey led by Ataturk. According to data released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Hagia Sophia was Turkey's most visited tourist attraction in 2015 and 2019.
In early July 2020, Turkey's Council of State annulled the Cabinet's 1934 decision to establish the museum, revoking the monument's status, and a subsequent decree by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ordered the reclassification of Hagia Sophia as a mosque. The 1934 decree was ruled to be unlawful under both Ottoman and Turkish law as Hagia Sophia's waqf, endowed by Sultan Mehmed, had designated the site a mosque; proponents of the decision argued the Hagia Sophia was the personal property of the sultan. This re-designation has been controversial and invoked condemnation from the Turkish opposition, UNESCO, the World Council of Churches, the International Association of Byzantine Studies, the Byzantine Chruch, and many international leaders.<<
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia
With Steve's video, I'm simply interested in showing you a short introduction of what you might experience visually while visiting the Hagia Sophia:
If you were to ask him today about the recent re-designation, he'd most likely shrug his shoulders and say, "Well, what does it matter? Another church, another religion."
If you were to ask him today about the recent re-designation, he'd most likely shrug his shoulders and say, "Well, what does it matter? Another church, another religion."
On the balcony level of this photograph, one can walk around the left and right sides (behind the Islamic "medallions") for views of the central hall and precious mosaics.
"The first elements that immediately pop out to visitors are the gigantic calligraphic medallions. During a major renovation between 1847 and 1849, Sultan Abdülmecid the First added these eight calligraphic medallions. They were made by Ottoman calligrapher Kazasker Mustafa İzzet Efendi and are the largest in the Islamic world at 7.5m in diameter.
The medallions contain the names of Allah and Muhammad; the first four caliphs Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali; and Muhammad’s grandchildren Hassan and Hussein."
https://nomadicniko.com/2013/09/18/islamic-hagia-sophia/
Now to the exterior:
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| https://zeykes.medium.com/hagia-sophia-the-holy-wisdom-a-basilica-mosque-or-museum-db70ac088ba8 |
Now to the exterior:
Two curiously-shaped (reddish-colored) buttresses on either side of a large arch face the east - toward the Blue Mosque and an open park where most tourists get the best view.
The four spires at its corners indicate that it is a mosque. (Notice that the minaret visible in the right, foreground was curiously made by the Moslems out of red brick unlike the other three - much later than the church structure. The minarets were added in the 15th-16th centuries by the Ottoman Empire.) It was converted to a mosque after the siege and destruction of Constantinople in 1453 by the Ottomans after conquest under Mehmed II.
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| Cliff Emerson |
This event marked the ultimate collapse of the Byzantine Empire, and eliminated Constantinople as the historical center of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The city was renamed, Istanbul, "city of Islam."
I have attempted to cover the seize, invasion and destruction of Christian Constantinople in 1453 by the Ottomans in depth in another post. Here's a link to the first: LINK Additional posts will follow.
In 1935, the first Turkish President and founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, designated that the building should be secularized - turned into a museum. Unfortunately - as mentioned above, it has been turned back into a mosque this year (2021) under the reign of conservative President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
I've been to Istanbul four or five times to investigate and photograph the Byzantine remains of the city. The Hagia Sophia was one of the first places I visited. I wanted to discover for myself the basic schema of Constantinople beneath the rubble, infrastructure, clutter, busyness and noise of the bustling, modern city of Istanbul.
Here's a good YouTube documentary for Constantinople and Byzantium: LINK (1hour, 39 minutes)
Below, an aerial view, looking north, shows the Blue Mosque in the center (mostly white), and the Hagia Sophia behind it. The body of water to the north is the Bosporus, to the left is the Golden Horn, and to the right is the Sea of Marmara.
This ancient part of the city - built on a peninsula - is called the Sultanahmet. It has a great ambiance and lots of restaurants, carpet shops, tourist shops, travel agencies and hotels, as well as the city's most impressive historical tourist sites. If you have only a short time to spend in the city, this is the place you want to start! We had to que-up well in advance of the opening time to get a place on the tour.
In the picture above, a stretch of train track runs around the right side. The rail line terminates at the Sirkeci Terminal Building (Sirkeci Garı), the end terminal of the old Oriental Express (map), near the Topkapi Palace. Currently, it supports night trains departing for Beograd, Sofia and Bucharest.
On one visit, I walked down from the Hagia Sophia to the Bosporus water front to view the remaining ruins of the once glorious Byzantine palace walls. I'll show you that in an upcoming post.
I've marked Taksim Square, on the north side of the Golden Horn, where many of the anti-government riots took place during 2013-2014. Aside from several multi-story hotels and the military museum (which is great!), I don't find a lot of interesting things to visit in this area.
Below: looking at the left side of the interior. Keep in mind, the large, hanging medallions with Arabic script were added during the years 1847-49. Keep in mind, the latest version of this church was built in 555!
A view of the right side. This gallery contains a few surviving early Christian mosaic images. I'll show these in a future post.
I shot the following video of the northeast corner exterior of the Hagia Sophia, starting with soldiers who stood guard at the entrance to the Topkapi Palace, and ending with a view of the Bosporus in the background and the palace walls:
Several stone objects are located near the main entrance, in an excavated pit.
This carved stone is a fragment left over from an earlier version of the church that was destroyed in Nika riots in the 6th century.
Below, so-called "flying buttresses" were not invented during the French Gothic architectural period after 1100 AD, as some people claim, but much earlier! Here they are!
Click here to access the Table of Contents.
Here's a good YouTube documentary for Constantinople and Byzantium: LINK (1hour, 39 minutes)
Below, an aerial view, looking north, shows the Blue Mosque in the center (mostly white), and the Hagia Sophia behind it. The body of water to the north is the Bosporus, to the left is the Golden Horn, and to the right is the Sea of Marmara.
In the picture above, a stretch of train track runs around the right side. The rail line terminates at the Sirkeci Terminal Building (Sirkeci Garı), the end terminal of the old Oriental Express (map), near the Topkapi Palace. Currently, it supports night trains departing for Beograd, Sofia and Bucharest.
On one visit, I walked down from the Hagia Sophia to the Bosporus water front to view the remaining ruins of the once glorious Byzantine palace walls. I'll show you that in an upcoming post.
I've marked Taksim Square, on the north side of the Golden Horn, where many of the anti-government riots took place during 2013-2014. Aside from several multi-story hotels and the military museum (which is great!), I don't find a lot of interesting things to visit in this area.
Below: looking at the left side of the interior. Keep in mind, the large, hanging medallions with Arabic script were added during the years 1847-49. Keep in mind, the latest version of this church was built in 555!
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| powertripberkeley.com |
Several stone objects are located near the main entrance, in an excavated pit.
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| cliff_emerson© |
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| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Istanbul.Hagia_Sophia009.jpg |
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| http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Hagia_Sophia_(Aya_Sofya)_-_entrance,_Istanbul,_Turkey_(9606812438).jpg |
Click here to access the Table of Contents.
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