Part 1: Istanbul
Hey guys! Again, I warned you, my internet has been somewhat spotty in Greece. We only have it in certain places in our hotels, so I'm behind on updating, but I wanted to give you guys the details of what went on when we were in Turkey! Here is what happened on our first day, which was a tour around Istanbul.
After our final exam at Jerusalem University College was over, the team scattered to shop, pack, clean, and read Timothy Ware’s The Orthodox Church. We had a 1200 word paper due the morning we were to arrive in Istanbul. The next day, we left on the bus at 3:30 pm to head to Ben-Gurion Airport, to catch our 2-hour flight to Turkey.
When we arrived, we met our Turkish tour guide, Oz. He informed us that our schedule tomorrow would be stuffed full: The Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the ancient city cistern, and the world-famous Istanbul archaeological museum. Our hotel was lacking in the air conditioning department, so it was a sweltering first night. We got to sleep in some (8 am!), and then trekked off to see The Jewel of Christendom.
Istanbul is a true city between. Most of it is in Asia, but another section is across a bridge in Europe. Although most of the city is located in Asia, it was much more European than I was expecting. Even so, call to prayer echoed from the city’s thousand minarets in the early blue of the morning. For those of you unfamiliar with Turkey’s most recent history, Turkey is a secular republic with a 99% Muslim population. Their politics, culture, and worldview are caught between the Middle East, Europe (the government badly wants to be a part of the European Union, but the EU is very reluctant), and Central Asia. The juxtaposition of an Islamic stronghold with European interests produces interesting results. But even more interesting is that Istanbul was originally Constantinople – the capital of the Roman Empire. Constantine was the first emperor to convert to Christianity and establish it as the state religion of Rome. As the focus of the empire moved east, Constantine moved east with it, and established his new capital at Byzantium, which came to be called Constantinople after his death. Constantinople was the center of Christianity for hundreds of years. Justinian, a later emperor, built the Hagia Sophia.
The Hagia Sophia is beautiful, but one cannot help noticing the wear and age of its magnificence. After Constantinople was conquered and overrun by the Ottomans in 1453, Islam swept over the area, and the Hagia was turned into a mosque. Walking into the church, one of the first things you notice is the magnificent mosaic of Mary and the Christ Child, but massive discs proclaiming the name of Allah and his prophet in curls of gold Arabic. Arabic writing covers much of the walls. It was only after recent restoration that archaeologists peeled away the layers of plaster to reveal the magnificent frescoes and mosaics of Biblical scenes and characters beneath. Four huge Seraphim are guard the high corners of the Hagia’s main dome. Images of Jesus, John the Baptist, Mary, and various saints follow Magnificent purple, gray, and white marble pillars line the rooms. Even now, though debilitated and ancient, it retains majesty.
Our next stop was the Blue Mosque, which named for its fantastic blue tiling on the inside. It has six minarets, a rarity in the world. After it was built, a seventh minaret was added to the mosque at Mecca, in order to equalize the order of importance. After the Mosque, we headed over to a massive and ancient Basilica Cistern, originally a sunken palace which was turned into a cistern by Justinian to provide water to the palace. Eerie, lit by red lights, fantastic columns and "Medusa Head" bases. Finally, we went to the archaeological museum. It was large and well-stocked. The sculptures were amazing - it made me re-think my choice to take painting instead of sculpture in the fall.
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