HELLO GUYS!!
Now, i would like to tell u some place. the place which located in Constantinople or now known as Istanbul. The place that has transformed world civilization. The Hagia Sophia
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Hagia Sophia, once the greatest church in the Christian world
until its conversion into a mosque in 1453, is now one of Istanbul’s most well
known and breathtakingly beautiful museums.
The Byzantine emperor Justinian I had Hagia Sophia built, in all
its glory, in under five and a half years. Completed in 537AD, this patriarchal
basilica remained the largest cathedral in the world until 1453, when
Constantinople was conquered by Ottoman armies and Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror
converted Hagia Sophia into a mosque.
Prior to its conversion, the interior walls were covered with
marble and porphyry, as well as beautiful mosaics which included 30 million
gold tiles depicting various religious scenes. Its massive columns are made
from granite.
"Hagia shopia/ Ayasofya (Turkey)/ Sancta Shopia (Latin)"
Hagia Sophia is rectangular in structure, measuring 70 metres by
75 metres with a massive central dome. Its dome made it the focus of intense
architectural interest and wonder; with a height of 55.5 metres and a diameter
measuring 31.24 metres, it appears to float on its arches. This was achieved by
the construction of triangular piers at the corners of the base and by a
sequence of arched windows under it, allowing vast amounts of sunlight into the
building.
The Crusaders ransacked Hagia Sophia in 1204. In the wake of
their destruction and desecration they also robbed the cathedral of many of its
relics, shipping them to Venice, and replaced its Patriarch with a Latin
bishop. This event ultimately served to divide the Greek Orthodox and Roman
Catholic churches.
Hagia Sophia was used as a model for many other mosques
including the Blue
Mosque which
stands opposite it. During its conversion to a mosque, all the traditional Christian
elements such as its altar, bells and iconoclasts were removed. As Islam
prohibits the representation of figures, the mosaics and frescoes were
plastered over and replaced with geometric designs, gold, wood and mother of
pearl. Two minarets were later added, along a prayer niche, pulpit, ablutions
area, tombs and an elementary school. Large medallions inscribed with Islamic
calligraphy were suspended from the mosque’s dome in the 19th century and are
still visible today.
The Museum’s Upper Gallery, where the church council would sit,
includes many of the best preserved mosaics and Christian imagery, while the
lower level contains the greatest concentration of Islamic art and functional
elements of a mosque.
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Location of Hagia shopia(Turkey)
Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) holds special meaning
to me for so many reasons. For one, it was not originally built as a mosque. It
was built as a church by the Byzantines over 1400 years ago, 900 years before
the Ottoman Turks took Istanbul (Constantinople back then) and a millennia
before Sinan built Suleymaniye Mosque. The Turks added the minarets and
plastered over the mosaics to turn it into a mosque. (Ataturk made it a museum
and uncovered some of the mosaics c.1930.) Turks, and Muslims in general for
that matter, had no objections to adopting elements from other cultures.
Although they had converted many churches with similar layouts to Higia Sophia,
it was still a major influence on the typical design of mosques. I find this
fascinating.
Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the secular Turkish Republic, had Hagia Sophia
converted into a museum in 1935 following extensive restoration led by Thomas
Whitmore of the Byzantine Institute of America. In the process, a compromise
had to be made as many of the covered Christian mosaics and icons were exposed,
resulting in the destruction of the Islamic art which had replaced it. In this
regard, the restoration project has attempted to strike a balance between the
two religious styles. The Museum’s restoration is ongoing, visible by the
scaffolding inside.
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Mustafa Kemal Attaturk
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