On our first day in Istanbul, though weary from the journey, we wanted to get oriented to the city and adjust our body clocks to Turkey time. Despite wanting to lie down, we went to Sultanahmet (square) and crossing the ruins of the Roman Hippodrome, walked to the Sultanahmet Mosque (The Blue Mosque). We were there just at the right time --- in between the prayer times.
The inner hall was cool and given the number of tourists, very quiet. People were sitting about and taking in the beauty of the place. Huge stain glass windows gave most of the light. The dome, pillars, walls were covered with painting, carvings, calligraphy and blue colored Iznik tiles in100s of different designs of lily. The roof was a series of domes from the highest being the biggest and then cascading down to smaller one. The whole effect is so harmonious and serene that people were talking in hushed tones.
To complete our orientation we passed by the entrance of Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya) which is 5 minutes walk away. To our surprise the ticket lines to Hagia were only 10 deep when we expected 100s to be lining up for entry. This was an unexpected opportunity and we soon found ourselves in the old cathedral.
A bit of History: Hagia Sophia was built in 537 AD by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian and was the largest cathedral of the world for about 1000 years. With Ottomans conquest of Istanbul in ~1450 AD, it was converted to a mosque with added minarets, pulpit and mihrab. The architecture of the Blue Mosque built by Ottomans in 1610, as well as most of the other mosques of Istanbul (even in Cairo) is inspired by Hagia Sophia. In 1935 Ataturk, the father of modern secular Turkey, converted it into a museum. In 2020 the present government reconverted it into a mosque.
Hagia Sophia was much larger than the Blue Mosque. It is about a 1000 years older and yet it seemed more lighted with light shining off the mosaics on the walls. Sudhir pointed out the mosaics, I was assuming them to be paintings... extremely fine work with gold and silver covered tiles reflecting the light just right. The effect of age was very visible with patches where some of the mosaics had been. With the mosaics of Mary and Jesus, Hagia Sophia looks more like a church than a mosque. The mosaics painted or plastered over during the Ottoman period were probably revealed and restored during it's museum phase. Restoration work still continues.
Despite being a mosque Ayasofya doubles as a museum and allows access to tourists only on the upper levels with best views of the mosaics. To see the Omphallion on the main floor, one has to crane ones neck a bit. The Omphallion is a square area marked with inlaid discs of different colored marbles from different regions of the Byzantine empire. This was where the Byzantine emperors were crowned.
With a very satisfactory introduction to the old Istanbul, we called it a day, and visited the Suleymaniye mosque the next morning.
Being on top of a hill Suleymaniye mosque offers panoramic views of the
region around. Despite the grey skies the courtyard offered lovely views of the Galata tower and the Bosphorus. The
mosque is a part of a social complex of with a hospital, a graveyard, a
public kitchen, public bath and a school built for Sultan Suleyman in
1550 AD. The main hall theme is red and it was the first to use Iznik tiles in red colour.
Here are some pictures of the
graceful prayer hall, the lovely courtyard and a view of the Galata tower.
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