Turkey Trot - Hagia Sophia

Turkey Trot - Overview
Turkey Trot - First Class
Turkey Trot - Are We There Yet?
Turkey Trot - Ephesus
Turkey Trot - Mary's House and Basilica of St. John
Turkey Trot - Swissotel Efes
Turkey Trot - Taking the Bus and Priene
Turkey Trot - Putting on the Ritz
Turkey Trot - The Blue Mosque
Turkey Trot - Topkapı Palace
Turkey Trot - Hagia Sophia
Turkey Trot - Carpets and Grand Bazaar
Turkey Trot - Dolmabahçe Palace and Taksim Square
Turkey Trot - Bosphorus Cruise
Turkey Trot - Turning Blu
Turkey Trot - Getting This Turkey Home

After a refreshing lunch at a nearby café, we walked back to visit the last of the three best-known buildings that are part of the Historic Areas of Istanbul UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Hagia Sophia (or Ayasofya in Turkish) means "Divine (or Holy) Wisdom".  It has been a Greek Orthodox church, a Roman Catholic church and an imperial mosque.  Now it's simply a museum.  The current structure is actually the third version of the building.  The first one was opened in 360 AD but burned down in riots in 404 AD.  The second structure had a wooden roof and burned to the ground in 532 AD.  Seven marble blocks from this building were discovered in 1935 and they remain in a pit next to the museum entrance.

Marble blocks from the second structure

Shortly after the second building burned, the Emperor Justinian hired a physicist and a mathematician as its architects.  The result is a building that remained the world's largest cathedral for nearly a thousand years.  This is the building where Pope Leo IX excommunicated Michael I Cerularius in 1054, an act which triggered the Great Schism between the  Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches.  In 1453 when Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks, the sultan ordered the building to be converted into a mosque.  The mosaics depicting Jesus, Mary and various saints and angels were plastered over or removed.  Four minarets and other Islamic features were added.  It remained a mosque until 1931 and re-opened as a museum owned by the Republic of Turkey in 1935.

Hagia Sophia is famed for its dome and the way the dome is supported was a first in architecture.  The original dome collapsed entirely after an earthquake in 558 AD.  Portions of the second dome collapsed as well despite efforts to fortify it with ribbing and buttresses.  Only two sections of the dome from 562 remain.

The Dome

The mosaics are in various states of repair.  Efforts were made to remove the plaster that covered them but in some cases it was deemed better to leave them alone so they wouldn't be damaged further.

The Deesis mosaic dates from 1261. Mary and John the Baptist
plead for humanity on Judgment Day.

The Comnenus Mosaic dates from 1122 and features the Virgin
Mary, Empress Irene and Emperor John.

The Empress Zoe Mosaic is from the 11th century and features
Christ with the Emperor and Empress.

This mosaic is over the southwestern entrance. The Virgin
Mary with the Christ child receives Constantine's gift of the
city and Emperor Justinian's gift of  the Hagia Sophia.

The second floor has a balcony that wraps around the building.  Here are views looking both toward the pulpit and back to the main entrance.  One side is covered in scaffolding (a completely normal occurrence when my friends and I visit something monumental!) but at least the scaffolding was not directly down the center of the building as it was the last time I visited.

View towards the altar

View towards the front door

There are eight of the giant discs with Islamic writing.  They contain the names of Allah, Muhammad, the first four caliphs and the two grandchildren of Muhammad.  They are so large that they had to be assembled within the building as they would not fit through the door.

As seen from the exit of the Blue Mosque

The Hagia Sophia is considered one of the greatest surviving examples of Byzantine architecture.  The interior is covered in green and white marble and upstairs is a door made of marble that led to the room where the church council met.  It is another truly amazing building and I cannot even fathom how it was constructed without cranes or modern technology.  Yet here it stands nearly 1500 years later and it is quite a sight to behold.