Back in Time in the Hagia Sophia

The Hagia Sophia is an interesting building. While the Blue Mosque is still an operating mosque (we had to leave before noon prayers), the Hagia Sophia was turned into a museum by Ataturk shortly after independence. The building was controversial: first built as the third Byzantine cathedral on the site, the building was turned into a mosque when the Ottomans took the city of Constantinople. They painted over the mosaics of Jesus and the saints (no images in the mosque) and installed huge calligraphy panels with the names of Allah, Muhammad, and a number of early caliphates. Recently they have uncovered some of the mosaics intact. Millions of tiny little pieces meticulously arranged! Hopefully this post will act as a little "virtual tour" of the Hagia Sophia!

Main part of the "museum" (church/mosque). The huge caligraphy panels came with the Ottomans.

 

 

Dome of the Hagia Sophia, with seraphim in the corners.

The face of one was just recently restored--no images in a mosque, so they painted over the faces but allowed the forms with wings to remain.

Bad picture, but you get the comparison.

Check out the detailed carving--I know, I sound like my dad.

View from the upper balcony. The rings of light are chandelier-type lighting similar to what was in the Blue Mosque, but on a smaller scale.

Mosaics! The restored ones are mostly on the upper floor.

SO MANY LITTLE PIECES.

This is a black-background mosaic--pretty rare.

This picture shows the different layers--at the top is the Ottoman-era plaster painted with floral designs, with the mosaics from the church underneath.

This picture seems random, but if you look closely the column is not straight at all! Nothing in the Hagia Sophia is symmetrical. Because of the dome and other structural stuff, the building leans and sags. They put up flying butresses to keep the walls from shifting. On the plus side, our tour guide says it's virtually earthquake-proof.

Detail of the mosaic pictured above. Artists often showed rulers of the city (one of these guys is Justinius, an emperor) with Jesus or Mary. He's gifting the Hagia Sophia to Mary (left guy). I think it's cool that art can actually be very political.

So I hope I haven't overloaded you with pictures, but that's really the best way for me to express to you what these sights are like. Next stop will be Topkapi Palace!