TOURING ISTANBUL: The Mosques
One of six minurets belonging to Sultan Ahmed Mosque.
Dear Foodie Fam,
Although there are close to 90,000 mosques in Turkey, the two that have become icons of Istanbul are the Hagia Sophia and the Sultan Ahmed Mosque.
We were blessed to be able to visit both -atleast the courtyard between the two- whenever we wished since we were staying on the short street directly perpendicular to the mosques.
The Hagia Sophia pictured from our hotel room window.
The first time we saw the Hagia Sofia was from our hotel room window, shimmering in the lights below.
It was only natural to pay our respects to the mosques the end of every day during our visit.
There’s a stretch of land between the mosques that takes two minutes to walk across. There are lit up fountains between the two mosques. There are also trees, grass, wooden and stone benches. We would sit on these benches and watch young locals and tourist families meander slowly, taking photos. There were always vendors offering apple tea, too.
lit up fountains between the two mosques.
Benches facing Sultan Ahmed Mosque.
Sultan Ahmed Mosque
Early on our first morning, our tour guide Unal met us at our hotel lobby. He smiled warmly and noted that it was easy to jump off from where we were staying. The Hippodrome, Topkapi Palace, Sultan Ahmed Mosque and Hagia Sophia were all within walking distance. We are so grateful to Hot Pink Travel for helping us find our hotel.
We walked us across the road to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, first.
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque is known as the Blue Mosque because it is dripping in 20,000 splendidly hand painted blue tiling.
It’s gargantuan! Unal told us it was so big because it was built as symbol of grandiose by Sultan Ahmed I. He built the mosque on the foundations of the Byzantine Great Palace to challenge the Hagia Sofia in grandiose. Also, Sultan Ahmed wasn’t doing so great on the battle field… so the mosque stood as an appeal to Allah for success. It’s central dome is about 78’ in diameter and vaults to nearly 141’ high. The last imperial mosque, you can see a book of construction plans at the Topkapi Palace museum.
Here’s a kicker: The building has six minurets- the only mosque in Istanbul with that number. Minurets are towers from which a muezzin (cryer) announced any of five daily prayers. The only other mosque that had so many minurets was the Prophet’s mosque in Mecca. What a scandal! The Sultan paid for a seventh minuret to be build at Mecca.
Since the Mosque is still a working house of worship, it’s only open during non-prayer hours. As usual, one must take off their shoes before entering. Women must cover their heads, too.
The first thing I noticed walking in was a man vacuuming the large expanse of carpet lying past a large barrier. It seemed so funny to see something so modern and banal happening in such a historic, revered place. But why shouldn’t it happen? As this is where the faithful still pray, the floor is covered in carpet. The carpet is refurnished now and then by donation from devout Muslims.
The second thing I noticed was the dome that soared high above. I am not Muslim but the magnitude of the mosque indeed inspired awe in me. The very air felt delicate and I was pretty dazed the whole time. You can see this in my inattention in the photos Dutch was snapping of me.
The Hagia Sophia
The Hagia Sophia is by contrast not a working mosque. Actually, the Hagia Sophia -which translated to “Holy Wisdom” in Latin- is more than an icon of Islam.
Istanbul was the seat of Islamic Caliphate from 1517-1924. It was the seat of Roman Orthodox Patriarchate since the 4thc AD. The city still hosts some Orthodox churches, the Armenian Patriarchate, Greek Orthodox communities and Italian Catholic communities..
As a result, the Hagia Sophia (“Sancta Sophia”/ “Saint Sophia”) was a Roman era Greek Orthodox Christian cathedral which became an Ottoman imperial mosque. There are coexistant artistic examples of both Christianity and Islam. At the time of it’s construction (the start of the Middle Ages), it was the largest building in the world. It’s a prime representative of Byzantine architecture.
When Constantinople fell to the Ottomans during the mid 1400s, Sultan Mehmet II observed tradition and submitted the cathedral to three days of unchecked pillage. The cathedral was stripped of it’s Christian relics- the bells, the icons, the altar. Mosaics were also destroyed. Those who sought safe-haven and refuge in the church were included in the pillaging.
Immediately, the Sultan ordered the conversion of the building to a mosque and an ulama (Islamic scholar) recited the Shahada at the church pulpit.
It’s immensely hard imagining this space as the site of devastation. Lit up by the sunlight, it seems to echo with palpable history and dust. I generations of people felt the same. The dilapidating Hagia Sophia was rescued by the World Monuments Fund which catalogued it on the World Monument Watch.
When I walked in, I was immediately captivated by immense roundels hanging on the center columns. These have the following names emblazoned in gold calligraphy: Allah, Muhammad, the first four caliphs, the two grandchildren of Muhammad.
Somehow, despite the chaos, a number of mosaics depicting Jesus, Mary, and Christian saints were not lost, but merely plastered over. It was these interlopers -amongst other spectacles in Istanbul- I wanted to see most.
As an artist, I love visual art. However, my senses are highly sensitive so I move through curated spaces briskly. Dutch enjoys slowly savoring the same art-decked spaces. Sometimes, though, pieces that seem to whisper so much history and story stupefies me.
There are few art pieces I pretty much fall into a zombie-like hypnotic gaze in front of:
10-15 minutes standing: Kehinde Wiley, Frida Kahlo, Yoshitomo Nara, Mark Ryden
20 minutes standing: Mark Rothko, JMW Turner
30 minutes, sitting: Klimt
Tears, standing: Van Gogh, Kandinsky
You can count these mosaics with Rothko and Turner.
Seeing these tiled faces glittering in the sunlight reached right inside my chest and fucked up my heart. I inexplicably felt like leaving them would mean I would forget them or I’d be responsible for their future loss. Like they were going to be plastered over, again… Ridiculous, I know.
There were many relics in the Hagia Sofia that I hope to never forget:
The cobbled hall where the veiled, devout Muslim women walked to and from their separate terrace.
The Byzantine coronation square where Byzantine emperors were crowned
The seraphim gazing down from the vaulted ceiling or over portals
The decadent minbar
The Roman Hellenistic urns
The roundels…
the amalgamation of all the above
the mosaic of Mary, baby Jesus, Gabriel and Michael perched just above the mihrab (the niche in the mosque nearest to Mecca, toward which prayers are directed).
Many times, Dutch would glance back at me and catch me in wide-eyed stupor or snapping away incessantly with my camera. Other times, I’d be the one catching him. Other times, we’d both just look straight eachother and share a baffled laugh. We felt like keepers of a hidden knowledge- a “holy wisdom.”
If I were to bottle up but a handful of memories to remember in perfect condition, it my visit to the Hagia Sophia would be one.
Sultan Ahmed Mosque at night.
Hagia Sophia at night.
