Hagia Sophia by brewgirlca
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Description
Hagia Sophia
From Greek meaning Holy Wisdom. A former Orthodox basilica, later a mosque and since 1935 a museum. Since its original construction under the orders of Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 532 A.D. Hagia Sophia remained the world's largest cathedral for almost 1000 years.
In 1453 Constantinople was conquered by Sultan Mehmed I of the Ottoman Empire who had the Hagia Sophia converted into a mosque. That is the reason you see the minerets. Much of what remained of the holy relics were plundered and the mosaics were plastered over and Islamic features were added, including the four minarets. In 1931 Turkish revolution leader Ataturk declared that Turkey had enough mosques and did not need one more. He had it closed and in 1935 it reopened in its present form, as a secular museum for the Republic of Turkey.
For almost 500 years the Hagia Sophia served as a model for many mosques and this can be seen in my previous photos of the Blue Mosque which sits just a few hundred meters away.
On 23 February 532 Justinian started construction of the Hagia Sophia. Employing over 10,000 workers the structure was completed and consecrated on 27 December 537. Materials were brought in from all over the empire such as columns from the temple of Artemis at Ephesus and stones from Egypt and Syria. Three major earthquakes caused massive cracks and the dome to partially collapse but each time it was resolutely rebuilt.
Many people think it was the Ottoman capture of Constantinople in 1453 that resulted in the great destruction of Hagia Sophia. Surprisingly this is not the case. In fact it was a Latin Christian army of the fourth crusade that conquered the city in 1204 that caused the most grievous damage, the greatest ransacking of holy relics, and desecrations of the shrines. Many of the relics wound up in Italian and German cathedrals. I find this to be particularly ironic and a fact that is greatly downplayed in western schools where we are taught it was a Muslim army that destroyed Constantinople. Although the city was taken back by the Byzantines in 1261, in fact the city never fully recovered from the attack by the Crusaders; it was a Christian army that destroyed the greatest Christian church of its time!
Well I will leave you with those thoughts for that is all I am going to say of the Hagia Sophia for now. I will take this up again by showing you some of the interior, which is much easier to photograph than the Blue Mosque. This may be my last post for a few weeks as on Saturday I am off to do some field work in southern California. Life is tough I know but someone has to do it.
Hopefully there will be wi-fi and I will be able to keep up a bit but there probably will not be.
Blue Mosque for comparison
"The Blue Mosque"
"The Blue Mosque"
Comments (26)
Faemike55
Wonderful capture and interesting history lesson... personally I did not buy into the belief that the Crusades were for the conversion of the heretics but that they were finacially backed.... Have fun with the SoCal fieldwork
bobrgallegos
Great capture of this awesome architecture and great info!
zil2008
Great capture and postwork on the image. Interesting history lesson. Happy Thanksgiving. Hugs Liz
shingleboot
Very nice image and history
barryjeffer
Tremendous history and a totally stunning capture Roxy!
eekdog
your just full of knowledge and history Roxy, and your shot is just awesome, happy thanksgiving my friend..
SidheRoseGraphics
Great shot of Hagia Sophia, Roxy. If there is a good vantage to be had, you always seem to find it ;) That one minaret looks so out of place with the other three. Different stone, I guess. Ironic how the Christian armies destroyed so much and it is never mentioned. Great bit of history here and thank you for sharing!! Hope all goes well with your trip! You have a great Thanksgiving, too!
magnus073
What a cool capture Roxy, and thanks for the background info also.
mikeerson
Looks like a good spot to set up beach vollyball.
renecyberdoc
very impressive.
odile
What surprised me while visiting Hagia Sophia as well as other monuments and museums in Istanbul is that there were far more Turkish visitors than tourists and it was nice to see how much they appreciate the richness of their country. Meanwhile ,my daughter Sophia and I had a thought for Constantine Paleologos,her great-great-great-great grandfather,who said his last prayers there before he went for his final fight!:) Great Capture!
alanwilliams
wonderful, and so exotic
Tracesl
excellent
Mondwin
Superbly place my dear!!!Bravissima!V:DDD.Hugsxx Whylma
MineFujiko
Beautiful!! love the blue sky.
0rest4wicked
Shhhh, do as I say, not as I do! How typical of most. Safe journey.
3dpoetry
Excellent post effects
nitegrafix
c'est bien la photo
Nonsolum
Aaah Sophia, Sofia, my wisdom... Wonderful postwork !
Dreamdesigner
Thank you very Much Roxy,for the true historical info about the destruction of the Hagia Sophia!A lot of people probably would not want to believe If I wrote this!:-))Thank you for your unbiased point of view and scientific approach to the topic!Great capture and vibrant postwork!:-))))
vyktohria
WOW! GORGEOUS shot!!
JuliSonne
A very informative excursion into history. Very well researched, Roxy. Also this mosque seems a Mecca sein.Sie is very impressive and gives strength and geborgenheit. Wonderful capture. The mosque rises above the city!!
RodS
As always a wonderful photo, great postwork, and insightful information. History was never this interesting back in school... Well done, and enjoy your time in southern California, Roxy!
adorety
Beautiful shot and excellent bit of info.
Rhanagaz
Great capture of this beautiful building, Roxy!! I am not a religious person in a traditional way but people have alway tried to find something more great and more everlasting on the view of life from early on. The good thing in religion can be contemplation, why you are here or what do you want out of you life - that material stuff doesn't makes you happier or really satisfied as human. The bad thing with religions are those followers who deny other peoples reflecting and thoughts to be just as valuable as their own. Religions are a cultural trait not truth but okay to me as long everybody's faith or no faith are respected. I have a scientific view at the world but spirituallity is how we look at and treat our world and fellow humans. If you remember the irish comedian Dave Allen: May YOUR God go with you..
lyron
Splendid!!!