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Published: August 23rd 2008
Domes
A view of the Blue Mosque from the Aya Sofya.It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. A slight breeze flowed in through the large windows beside my table and filled the room with the scents of the sea. I woke up well rested and ready to start my day. I had been initially shocked when I walked up to the breakfast room and saw the food spread out in front of me. It was my first introduction to a Turkish breakfast and, I must admit, my first impression was not favorable. Of course, after I had spent a few minutes getting acquainted with the food we became fast friends. My plate was piled high with cucumbers and tomatoes and fruit and olives and a big slab of feta cheese. Off to the side was a basket full of bread and my hot tea. I quickly discovered that all of the differing flavors, when combined, became a delicious and filling breakfast, one that I loved from the first bite.
While I ate I stared out across the Sea of Marmara. There were huge freighters and tankers quickly making their way into the Bosphorus heading towards their exotic ports on the Black Sea and
Pergamum's Urns
This was one of two amazing urns that were carved out of a single piece of marble. They were brought from the now ruined city of Pergamum. there were small pleasure craft slowly cruising by in the seemingly calm, blue waters. From my vantage point on the top floor of my hostel at the edge of Europe I looked across the narrow body of water to Asia where the city continued into the distance. It was then that I really realized where I was and it brought a smile to my face. I thought back to one particular day in my sixth grade Social Studies class. We were talking about world geography and my teacher had decided to play a trick on us. She asked us, “Which continent is Turkey located on?” Some of us answered, “Europe”, and some of us answered, “Asia”. She told us that we were all partly correct and then she said, “Turkey is located in both Europe and Asia”. We consulted our world map and sure enough, the continental line split the country in two. We then talked about the only city in the world that spans two continents - Istanbul. It had been more than twenty years since that day and there I was, seeing it for myself.
I didn’t really have any firm plans for my first day in
Reflecting on History
A nighttime view of the Aya Sofya and the still fountain in the park. Istanbul. I packed up my day bag and I set off to explore the capitol of the once far-reaching Ottoman Empire. I walked through the busy tourist sector that I was staying in, dodging the incessant pleas from the carpet salesmen. I was not heading in any particular direction, but the route I was following was full of history. Not far from the hostel I found an ancient brick and mortar building with a huge dome. It was all boarded up and there were no identifying marks, but its style and appearance told me that it was very old. A little further down the road I came to a huge stone wall, partially over grown with greenery. I consulted the map and realized that the wall enclosed the expansive gardens and lawns of Topkapi Palace. I followed the beautiful wall for a while and I eventually reached the grand arched gateway that led into the domain of the sultans. There were at least fifty colorful tourist busses clogging the narrow road I was walking on and it looked like the mass of foreign tourists were all heading through the carved gate - I decided to skip the palace, hoping that
The Grand Doorway
These huge metal doors were once the main entrance to the building. the crowds would not be as bad at a later date.
I walked over to the massive red-orange structure of the Aya Sofya, which was adjacent to the gate into Topkapi. I had lost my sunglasses somewhere between Botswana and Ireland, so I decided to stop at a sidewalk shop and try out my bartering skills against those of a Turk - I didn’t fare so well! I found the sunglasses I wanted - I knew they would sell for about fifteen dollars back home. I asked the man how much they cost in a pathetic attempt at Turkish. Luckily, the man answered back in English, “Twenty-five dollars” - I thought I was dealing in Lira? I followed suite with, “That is too much, how about twelve dollars?” The game was on and it was one that the Turkish man clearly enjoyed playing - With a smile on his face he came back with, “Twenty four dollars” Back and forth we went, “fifteen dollars”, “twenty three dollars.” I was coming up quicker than he was going down and I began to realize that I was outmatched so I asked the man if he would take twenty-two Liras (I didn’t
A Walk Through History
This was one of the many ruined buildings I passed while I walked through the city. want to spend my dollars anyway). The look on his face told me he was thinking about it and then he said, “OK, twenty-two Liras.” The deal was done and we parted ways, both of us smiling, him, because he had made a killing on the sunglasses, and me because I had enjoyed the exchange despite the fact that I spent more than I wanted to.
I continued down the sidewalk looking up at the massive domes and minarets of the Aya Sofya. As I walked I watched the workers clamber around the lower domes making repairs - I would imagine that they had their hands full keeping the grand building standing! I decided that I was going to go inside and take a look. I reached the end of the sidewalk and turned the corner and I was immediately stopped in my tracks. The crowds going into the Topkapi Palace were nothing compared to mass of humanity in front of me. I felt like I was watching the start of the Boston Marathon, only every one of them was slowly flowing into the ancient walls of the Aya Sofya. I immediately changed my plans again and I headed
The Hippodrome
This is the hippodrome showing the top of the serpent column and the Egyptian obelisk from Karnak. off across the park to where the hippodrome was located, pausing at the fountain to look up at the grand domed buildings on either end of the park.
The hippodrome was basically a huge horse racing track measuring about 450 meters long by 130 meters wide and was capable of holding one-hundred thousand people. It was the social center of Constantinople and huge chariot races took place there as well as many other events. In its heyday, the hippodrome was covered in amazing and famous statuary and monuments. There were life sized gilded copper horses, statues of gods and emperors and famous chariot racers and, down the center of the track, rose two obelisks and the famous Serpent Column. The Serpent Column was originally cast in Greece to celebrate their victory over the Persians in the 5th century BC. It was originally installed at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi where it was known as the Tripod of Plataea - The famous and powerful oracle at Delphi. It was moved to the Hippodrome where it still stands today, though the three serpent heads and the golden bowl that they held up are now lost. The obelisk of Thutmosis III,
The Serpent Column
This column was once the tripod of the famous oracle at Delphi. It was brought to the hippodrome at the same time many other great works of art were gathered up from across the Byzantine Empire. The snake heads and the golden bowl that they once held have been lost. which originally stood at the temple of Karnak in Luxor, was cut into three pieces and brought to Constantinople by Theodosius the Great. The beautifully carved and perfectly preserved top section of the obelisk sits on top of a beautifully carved, but badly worn Byzantine marble base. In the tenth century a second obelisk was added to the Hippodrome. The Walled Obelisk, as it is known, was made of stacked stone blocks and sheathed in gilded bronze plates. Now all that remains of the obelisk is the worn stone core. When the crusaders of the 4th Crusade sacked the city they carted off all of the treasures they could get from the hippodrome. Gone were all of the statues and the bronze plates from the Walled Obelisk, they may have even been responsible for the beheading of the Serpent Column. The huge bronze horses that once stood over the boxes now adorn the façade of Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice. Now the Hippodrome is covered over by the garden-like Sultanahmet Square. The three remaining monuments rise up out of circular openings in the square and reveal the original level of the track. There are portions of the original stone structure
The Walled Obelisk
This mysterious obelisk is located in the hippodrome. Before the knights of the 4th Crusade sacked the city it was covered in gilded bronze plates. exposed, but no archaeological excavations have been done, excepting those done ahead of new construction projects, so how much of the hippodrome is still concealed beneath the gardens and pavement of Sultanahmet Square in unknown.
Lining one side of Sultanahmet Square is the grand Turkish & Islamic Arts Museum. The museum is housed in the former Palace of Ibrahim Pasa, son-in-law of Suleyman the Magnificent. The beautiful building alone, built in the sixteenth century, made a visit to the museum worthwhile, but what was inside was truly stunning. I walked from one room to the next taking in all of the wonderful art work. There were illuminated Qurans of all sizes, beautiful tile work and stone carvings, amazingly intricate wood inlayed boxes and cabinets, beautiful carpets and there was some lovely metal work, all of it evoking in me the images I had formed in my mind for some of my favorite stories. I was not prepared for what I found in the last rooms I visited. The rooms contained magnificent floor to ceiling carpets of every color and design. What made the exhibit spectacular was the fact that the ceiling was two stories up - One of the
The German Fountain
This fountain, located in the hippodrome, was built in 1900 to commemorate a visit to Istanbul by the German Emperor Wilhelm II. carpets in those rooms could have flown an entire army into battle! I lingered for a while in the courtyard of the palace where there were spectacular views of the Blue Mosque and then I headed out in search of lunch.
I sat down at a busy sidewalk café where I ate a delicious tavuk doner kebab in the shadow of the Blue Mosque. The doner kebab is a staple in Turkey. It is made by building a giant column of skewered meat, chicken (tavuk) in this case, that is perfectly seasoned and then fire-roasted as the column slowly rotates in front of the flame. When you order it, the man tending the meat column makes several thin slices off of the well cooked exterior of the column and collects the juicy trimmings in a big tortilla-like piece of bread called a durum. The result is a delicious and easy meal that doesn’t break the budget. When I finished my meal I walked over to the Aya Sofya where, as luck would have it, there were no more than five people in line - I had discovered the secret to visiting the more popular attractions in Istanbul.
I
The Blue Mosque
This was the view of the Blue Mosque from the courtyard of the Islamic Art Museum. paid my ten lira entrance fee and then I walked through security and entered the ancient complex. I walked past several smaller domed mausoleums towards the entrance of the main building. The path I followed was blanketed in the shade of several large trees. Everywhere I looked ancient blocks of marble and round columns littered the garden like area. The blocks of marble and the columns are all that remain of the huge church that occupied the site prior to the current domed building. That particular church, the second built on the site, was considered to be one of the most magnificent structures in the world in its day. It was destroyed by fire during the riots of the Nika Revolt in AD 532. The amazing domed structure of the current Hagia Sophia was finished in AD 537 and it has been standing as a magnificent reminder of the Byzantine Empire since then. I walked towards a huge pit near the entrance of the structure. At the bottom of the deep pit, which was an archaeological window into the past, the footings and steps of the second church were visible along with some of the more precious architectural carvings. I
A Garden of Ruins
The many building blocks and columns are all that remain of the second church on the site. walked up the worn stone steps and passed through the ancient doorway. I was immediately surprised with what I found on the inside. From a distance the exterior of the Aya Sofya is stunning with its graceful lines flowing down from its massive dome. Up close the building’s tarnished surfaces reveal the centuries, showing off its brick and mortar construction in several places where the plaster has fallen away. When I stepped into its dark interior the grandeur of the building became immediately apparent. The entrance hall ran the full length of the building. The walls and floors were covered in lovely grayish marble, polished smooth with age. The ceiling was a huge gothic arched vault painted yellow with bluish accents. The lighting was provided by a few antique chandeliers that hung down from the tall ceiling, accented by the harsh mid-day light flowing in from the open doors. The hall was an impressive sight, but it didn’t even come close to preparing me for what was on the other side of the huge doors in the back wall.
I walked up to one of the doorways and stepped over a marble threshold that had been worn down by
An Archaeological Window
This window into the past shows the steps and footings of the second church that was on the site of the Aya Sofya. the millions of feet that had crossed it in the fifteen-hundred years it had been in place. It was a bit darker on the other side, but I could see an area bathed in light just past an intricately carved circular colonnade. As I walked towards the light more and more of the magnificent space on the other side came into view. I passed beneath the arches of the colonnade and walked down a few steps and then I stopped next to a massive, monolithic urn carved out of a beautiful, yellowish marble. I stood there for several minutes taking in the incomparable majesty of the cavernous space beneath the dome. Every surface was covered with beautifully carved, grayish stone with strange, natural patterns in them. The colonnade that I had walked through continued in both directions around the entire room, broken occasionally by huge spaces of flat wall, which concealed the huge support columns for the dome above. All of the columns on the first floor were tall, carved out of single pieces of patterned stone, and each was topped by the most intricately carved capitols I have ever come across. The second floor balcony was ringed by an
The Lamb of God
This is one of the carved stones from the second church built on the site of the Aya Sofya. equally impressive colonnade and a pair of rails, one of carved marble and one of an intricate, star-patterned lattice. Hanging on the huge support pillars at the four ‘corners’ of the second floor balcony, high above the floor, were eight huge, round medallions painted with the names of some of Islam’s most important figures in beautiful, golden, Islamic calligraphy on a black background. Huge walls and half domes rose up from the second floor all the way up to the main dome, gracefully transitioning from the rectangular layout of the building to that of the circular dome. The walls were covered with windows that filled the massive space with sunlight, imparting a comfortable atmosphere beneath the dome. The dome itself seemed to float above the building thanks to a ring of windows around its base - The effect was beautiful.
Everywhere I looked I was left in awe by the sheer grandeur and the impeccable attention to detail. No expense was spared in the Aya Sofya’s construction. The finest building materials flowed in from all over the empire - There were columns brought in from the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (one of the Seven Wonders of the World)
Faded Glory
Up close, the Aya Sofya shows its age, though it is still beautiful. and from Baalbek in Lebanon, quarried stone came from as far away as Egypt and grand artworks, such as the two huge marble urns, which came from Pergamum, flowed in from many of the neglected ancient sites. The engineer in me was sitting there trying to imagine what it would take to build such a building today and every way I looked at I decided that it couldn’t be done, not because our engineers and architects couldn’t, but because the cost would be mindboggling. Today it is preferable to build structures cheaply out of steel and concrete and replace them when they fall apart - I would be surprised if anything we have built in the last hundred years is still standing in fifteen-hundred years, even with constant upkeep. I walked over to a more central point in the room. I stopped and looked straight up to the beautiful scalloped dome that rose a staggering 182 feet above the floor. As I stood there beneath the massive stone dome, I couldn’t help but think of the two times in the building’s history that the dome came crashing down to the floor. Both times the collapse was caused by a huge
The Entrance Hall
This was the grand hall I entered into when I climbed the steps into the Hagia Sophia. earthquake and both times the reconstructed dome was redesigned and reinforced, so hopefully the current dome with be in place for another fifteen hundred years.
As I stood there in the middle of the huge, grand space beneath the dome I slowly looked around taking in the sheer beauty of the place. The colonnades and arches, the carved marble, the intricate Islamic calligraphy, the shafts of light flowing in from the windows, the huge dome and half domes - It was a powerful place. I was amazed at how well preserved everything was, yet the wear and tear of the centuries still showed in places. Some of the stone columns had thick iron rings bolted around them. Closer inspection revealed large cracks running up the columns and the iron rings were there to prevent the cracks from worsening. The marble floor was warped and worn smooth and its paving stones were uneven and cracked in places. Perhaps the most obvious sign of the building’s age was not the age induced wear and tear, but the huge scaffolding that rose from the floor to the top of the dome and occupied one quarter of the space beneath it. The scaffolding
Illuminated Arches
The grand interior of the Aya Sofya is grand in every detail. was there to facilitate restoration and remediation work on the upper reaches of the building. I heard several people whining about the unsightly aspects of the scaffolding, some of them even said it ruined the experience for them. There was no doubt that it detracted a bit from the grandeur of the building, but without ongoing maintenance the building would surely fall into ruin - It didn’t bother me at all.
I walked around the first floor taking in all of the amazing sights and it took some time to do. Near the apse, where the altar once stood, I got my first glimpse of the magnificent Christian mosaics that are starting to come to light again. Islam bans the use of human images in art, so when the church was converted to a mosque the mosaics had to go. Thankfully most of them were just plastered over, so after the Aya Sofya was converted from a mosque to a museum by Ataturk the mosaics were allowed to see the light of day again. The apse itself was amazing with huge stained-glass windows, the mihrab, which points towards Mecca, the Loge of the Sultan and the mimbar, from which
The Space Beyond
This was the first view I got of the grand space beneath the Aya Sofya's dome. the imam preached - All of them were beautiful Islamic additions to the building. I walked through a small museum area where I got to see some more amazing Islamic art, including several fine examples of very old illuminated Qurans. I made my way past the Stele of St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, which was a square column with an odd looking hole in it that is said to have miraculous powers, stopping briefly to try for a miracle (I figured it couldn’t hurt) and then I found a stone ramp that led up to the second floor.
On the second floor I searched out many of the amazing mosaics that can be found up there and I admired the views out of some of the open windows. The second floor was a lot brighter than the first floor due to the many windows, but the architectural details were very similar. I picked a spot on the handrail and I stared out across the huge hall beneath me. I was standing next to one of the massive circular medallions and I had a perfect view of the comings and goings of the tourists below. From my place on the rail I
Double Colonnades
Both floors of the Aya Sofya were adorned with grand colonnades. stared across the ages and I thought about the history that had taken place beneath the dome of the Hagia Sophia. For nearly fifteen hundred years people like me had visited and lived and worshiped below the grand dome. The building stood and watched the rise and fall of the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire and it sat helpless as the crusaders sacked its Christian treasures. Kings and Emperors and Sultans all plied its marbled halls - If only the walls could talk!
I leaned on the rail for over an hour taking in the scene and thinking. Sadly, something as mundane as picking up my laundry forced me to say goodbye to the Aya Sofya. As I turned to go I noticed someone’s name etched into the rail. The carving was neatly done, but I couldn’t read it. I thought it was a bit tasteless for someone to carve their name in such an amazing place, but the runic inscription told me that I would have to go back several centuries if I wanted to chastise the culprit. I made my way out of the Aya Sofya and across the lovely park. I walked back through the
Columns, Capitols and Arches
A detail of the amazing stone work at the Hagia Sophia. Hippodrome and then I wound my way through the narrow streets of the adjacent neighborhood until I found the small basement shop that I was looking for. Inside the man greeted me with a smile and handed me my stack of clean and neatly folded clothing. I slowly walked back to the hostel along some back streets I had not yet explored and I found some architectural treasures from the Ottoman times. I passed through the gauntlet of carpet salesmen and then I made it to the peaceful sanctuary of my hostel.
I spent the rest of the afternoon lounging on the rooftop terrace of my hostel reading about Turkey. The view across the Sea of Marmara was as impressive as it had been that morning, though a bit hazier in the afternoon sun. As darkness approached I got together with several other travelers and we set off to try out a local restaurant that had been recommended to us. We sat and enjoyed some of the Ottoman cuisine that was on offer - I had the ‘Sultan’s Chicken’, which was a flavorful chicken breast stuffed with spices and chopped almonds, covered in a flavorful sauce. After dinner I
A Conversion to Islam
These massive medallions were added to the Aya Sofya during its years as a mosque. They display the names of some of Islam's most important figures. set off with another person to get some night time pictures of the illuminated Blue Mosque. Our outing turned into an adventure of sorts as we searched out the best view of the grand structure - We ended up on a flat rooftop near the park where the views were grand. I spent the remainder of the evening lounging on beanbags on the roof of my hostel sipping hot tea and talking with my new friends about our day’s adventures. The smoke from the ever present nargila pipes filled the air with exotic scents of apple and strawberry and soft music filled the air. I paused for a moment as the lyrical call to prayer boomed across the city and brought an end to my first amazing day in the Middle East. As I headed down to my bed, any misgivings I had prior to arriving in the Middle East were completely gone. The warm and hospitable people in Istanbul were quickly making their city one of my favorites and I had only been there for one full day. I went to sleep excitedly thinking of what adventures were in store for me in the land of the Turks.
Beneath the Dome
OK, it is not the best picture, but I like it. This is the massive dome of the Aya Sofya. Note the scaffolding.
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DeVonne Whitehead
non-member comment
Very Impressive!!
I have been to Istanbul and I missed out on the beauty you shared here. These are absolutely beautiful pictures, and show the intensity of the Muslim religion. Thank you for the sharing. DeVonne