Istanbul, Day Three - Hagia Sophia and Basilica Cistern
Finally, day three of my journey in Istanbul, where I saw amongst other places the Hagia Sophia and Topkapı palace under an absolutely beautiful blanket of snow! Which seems to be a very rare thing nowadays, because just like in Paris, those few snowflakes that actually reach the ground turn almost instantly in an ugly puddle of black mud. Or so I heard.
Übrigens, hallo Papa, coucou maman!
Rein für den Fall, dass ihr euch hier irgendwie bemerkbar machen wolltet, könnt ihr einfach hier klicken und gaaaanz unten in der Kommentarbox hallo sagen.;)
WARNING: This is going to be very picture heavy!
Quite a rare view probably, the Hagia Sophia under a snow blanket. Best proof for that: I haven't seen even one postcard with Istanbul under the snow!;)
But then this is a weather which makes up for crappy light, especially since I still haven't found the courage/energy/time to edit the pics with Photoshop. But maybe, one day... (I get more and more the feeling that this is some sort of the "When I retire, I'll start to sort out and paste all the photos I've ever taken in my whole life into a photo album, seriously" sort of speech. I'll.. better stop now I guess, I don't like this train of thought is leading!)
I was teaming up with one Korean guy whom I had met at the hostel that morning, which was pretty cool. (What is it always with Korean guys? Every single time I do some sightseeing with complete strangers I met on the way they're always South Korean.Oo)
But apparently, we both suck. We've been walking around the Hagia Sophia one and a half time and still managed to miss the entry. Thus the following random pictures I've been shooting around the building:
Random stray dog was random. And cute.:3
I might have felt pretty silly, but the walk was totally worth it if you're asking me. Such a calm little street with cute houses right behind the Hagia Sophia, now that's certainly a nice address for a living.~♥
Although to our defense, when we finally did find the entry, we noticed that we had walked past it the first time because there was a big unmistakable sign telling us that the entry was for turkish citizens only.
...wtf?
I think it was the first time in my (admittedly not that vast) experience as a tourist abroad where I see special entries for sightseeing spots for your own citizens only. And it wasn't the only one I've seen that day in Istanbul. Is that common practice in other countries where I've never been to before? Not speaking about different price reductions here, but about different entries period. And usually there were more ticket windows open for turkish citizens than for foreign tourists. Riiiight. (The entry for foreign tourist was right behind the sign by the way, a bit hidden, and we didn't have a huge file of tourists as an obvious visual hint for help, so we decided not to hate ourselves for our stupidity for too long after all.;))
The spheres of each, uh, whatdoyoucallthem stick-thingies most likely represent the five pillars of Islam, with of course the crescent moon on top. I suppose. Please correct me if I'm saying something stupid here, will you? And now guess whether this was an original part of the then-church or not.
As I mentioned in an earlier post if my memory doesn't play any tricks on me, the current Hagia Sophia is the third church built on the same ground under that name, the two precedent versions (360-404 and 415-532 according to Wikipedia) have both been destroyed in riots. The third (and current) building has been built between 532 and 537. Pretty... impressive, if you're asking me. Those old folks sure knew how to build great things!
Those random marble colomns and marble plates are remains of the second church by the way.
Have a not completely random South Korean guy in the background. *g*
This is a fountain of when the Hagia Sophia was a mosque (between 1453 and 1935 during the Ottoman rule as well as the first years of the new Turkish Republic), with many individual taps for the ablution before prayer.
And now for the inside...
The interior? Is HUGE! No really, I mean it. My travel guide mentioned that it was very impressive because you don't see any pillars like usually in other buildings of that size (those of the Hagia Sophia are hidden in the walls), so you have just this huge dome and then those many smaller domes and... wow. Like I said, the old folks certainly knew how to impress>!
You can clearly see all the signs everywhere that the Hagia Sophia has been both a christian church and a muslim mosque. Those huge dics on the wall for example are a pretty dead giveaway of course, although they were added only in the 19th century. They bear the names of Allah, the prophet Muhammad, the first caliphs and two of the prophet's grandsons (says Wiki, I can't read Arabian to save my life).
The sultan assisted to prayer behind this golden screen on the gallery, as far as I did understand this. The screen was so rich and full of details it almost looked like Rokoko style. Beautiful!
Another addition from ottoman times, the minbar, I suppose it's comparable to the christian pulpit in churches?
And of course the mihrab, the niche that indicates the direction of Mecca. That's also about the place where the altar had been standing in christian times.
And right above the mihrab...
...a mosaic of the Virgin Mary with the child on her lap.
Unfortunately I don't have any sharper pictures, I should seriously try to sharpen them as much as I can with Photoshop one day.
Of course most (but not entirely all of) the christian mosaics have been covered by a layer of white plaster (and fortunately not destroyed! Although the Crusaders that came before the Ottomans in 1204 were less considerate about that...) while the Hagia Sophia had been used as a mosque, and they're still working at laying them free. (You might have seen scaffolds here and there in the corners of some pics. I suppose that's part of the reason, besides the purpose of general restoration of course).
And the dome from right below, with four seraphims at the corners. Unfortunately, the dome was so big that even with my wide-angle camera, I couldn't catch all of it that way. So have another one:
The most surprising thing might possibly be though that it's so very bright inside. Of course there were also artificial lights, but most of the light came from outside. There are just so many windows, it's incredible!
The entry to the upper galleries (for the women, but also for the Sultan I believe). Suprisingly, there were barely any stairs, but a long and narrow winding slope. I didn't complain, I hate stairs with a passion but never minded slopes that much before.:)
And that's what it looked like upstairs.
And a nice view too:
One of the seraphim with a covered face...
...and another one uncovered.
Archangel Gabriel...
...and several byzantine emperors and empresses, along with the Christ and/or Virgin Mary:
This one is my personal favorite, you may not be able to see it in this picture, but the mosaics were so detailed and so very very beautiful!*_*
Also, you might want to welcome a change from the mosaic spammage now, so have a few cistern pics.;D
The basilica cistern was right across the street and several steps down to the underground.
And woooah, definitly one of my favorites, the atmosphere was so great! Except... that it was really humid inside (and by that I mean that it was so humid it was literaly raining from the ceiling!) and I didn't notice that my lens got all fogged up:
...and still didn't notice:
Nevermind, I liked the effect anyway. Runway to Hell FTW!:D
And this is when I finally noticed, that no, it wasn't the lack of light that would make my pictures all wobly and blurred:
Say what you want, but I love those pictures!*_* So here, since your connection can certainly handle another one.~♥
There was also a café down there. But as much as I loved the place, I wasn't that fond of being rained on while drinking a coffee, and I would have felt even more stupid to use my umbrella indoors. And since I was a wuss and prefered my coffee in combination with a working heater I could snuggle with, since, you know, it wasn't exactly warm what with all that white stuff lying around outside, so no coffee for me.
Apparently, when the byzantine folks built that cistern back in early christian times, they used about everything they could find as building material, and that included especially everything they could gather from temples for the old gods and godesses. Which is why you had a huge collection of colomn patchwork, almost each of them in a completely different style. Oh, and a random Medusa staring at you from upside down. There was another one with the face on the side a few metres away, but according to my South Korean companion (who had done his homework better than I did I must admit), no one knows why they are positioned that way. Possibly because people back then just didn't care, or deliberately didn't want them to face the right direction, or... well, who knows.
And as the last picture, have the Blue Mosque under a snow blanket.~♥
I think I definitely went overboard with the picture spam this time. Did I go overboard? I'm sure I did. I'll send virtual Turkish Delights to whomever complains that their connection broke down after that pic spam and... Oh, nevermind, here, have virtuel Turkish Delights for everyone, help yourselves.~♥
According to my plan, there should be two more reports left, Topkapı palace and the Blue Mosque. The next one (Topkapı) should be very image-heavy as well, so I'll see when I'll come around to do that one.^^;
*shuffles away to help herself to a hot cocoa to fight the cold*
Übrigens, hallo Papa, coucou maman!
Rein für den Fall, dass ihr euch hier irgendwie bemerkbar machen wolltet, könnt ihr einfach hier klicken und gaaaanz unten in der Kommentarbox hallo sagen.;)
WARNING: This is going to be very picture heavy!
Quite a rare view probably, the Hagia Sophia under a snow blanket. Best proof for that: I haven't seen even one postcard with Istanbul under the snow!;)
But then this is a weather which makes up for crappy light, especially since I still haven't found the courage/energy/time to edit the pics with Photoshop. But maybe, one day... (I get more and more the feeling that this is some sort of the "When I retire, I'll start to sort out and paste all the photos I've ever taken in my whole life into a photo album, seriously" sort of speech. I'll.. better stop now I guess, I don't like this train of thought is leading!)
I was teaming up with one Korean guy whom I had met at the hostel that morning, which was pretty cool. (What is it always with Korean guys? Every single time I do some sightseeing with complete strangers I met on the way they're always South Korean.Oo)
But apparently, we both suck. We've been walking around the Hagia Sophia one and a half time and still managed to miss the entry. Thus the following random pictures I've been shooting around the building:
Random stray dog was random. And cute.:3
I might have felt pretty silly, but the walk was totally worth it if you're asking me. Such a calm little street with cute houses right behind the Hagia Sophia, now that's certainly a nice address for a living.~♥
Although to our defense, when we finally did find the entry, we noticed that we had walked past it the first time because there was a big unmistakable sign telling us that the entry was for turkish citizens only.
...wtf?
I think it was the first time in my (admittedly not that vast) experience as a tourist abroad where I see special entries for sightseeing spots for your own citizens only. And it wasn't the only one I've seen that day in Istanbul. Is that common practice in other countries where I've never been to before? Not speaking about different price reductions here, but about different entries period. And usually there were more ticket windows open for turkish citizens than for foreign tourists. Riiiight. (The entry for foreign tourist was right behind the sign by the way, a bit hidden, and we didn't have a huge file of tourists as an obvious visual hint for help, so we decided not to hate ourselves for our stupidity for too long after all.;))
The spheres of each, uh, whatdoyoucallthem stick-thingies most likely represent the five pillars of Islam, with of course the crescent moon on top. I suppose. Please correct me if I'm saying something stupid here, will you? And now guess whether this was an original part of the then-church or not.
As I mentioned in an earlier post if my memory doesn't play any tricks on me, the current Hagia Sophia is the third church built on the same ground under that name, the two precedent versions (360-404 and 415-532 according to Wikipedia) have both been destroyed in riots. The third (and current) building has been built between 532 and 537. Pretty... impressive, if you're asking me. Those old folks sure knew how to build great things!
Those random marble colomns and marble plates are remains of the second church by the way.
Have a not completely random South Korean guy in the background. *g*
This is a fountain of when the Hagia Sophia was a mosque (between 1453 and 1935 during the Ottoman rule as well as the first years of the new Turkish Republic), with many individual taps for the ablution before prayer.
And now for the inside...
The interior? Is HUGE! No really, I mean it. My travel guide mentioned that it was very impressive because you don't see any pillars like usually in other buildings of that size (those of the Hagia Sophia are hidden in the walls), so you have just this huge dome and then those many smaller domes and... wow. Like I said, the old folks certainly knew how to impress>!
You can clearly see all the signs everywhere that the Hagia Sophia has been both a christian church and a muslim mosque. Those huge dics on the wall for example are a pretty dead giveaway of course, although they were added only in the 19th century. They bear the names of Allah, the prophet Muhammad, the first caliphs and two of the prophet's grandsons (says Wiki, I can't read Arabian to save my life).
The sultan assisted to prayer behind this golden screen on the gallery, as far as I did understand this. The screen was so rich and full of details it almost looked like Rokoko style. Beautiful!
Another addition from ottoman times, the minbar, I suppose it's comparable to the christian pulpit in churches?
And of course the mihrab, the niche that indicates the direction of Mecca. That's also about the place where the altar had been standing in christian times.
And right above the mihrab...
...a mosaic of the Virgin Mary with the child on her lap.
Unfortunately I don't have any sharper pictures, I should seriously try to sharpen them as much as I can with Photoshop one day.
Of course most (but not entirely all of) the christian mosaics have been covered by a layer of white plaster (and fortunately not destroyed! Although the Crusaders that came before the Ottomans in 1204 were less considerate about that...) while the Hagia Sophia had been used as a mosque, and they're still working at laying them free. (You might have seen scaffolds here and there in the corners of some pics. I suppose that's part of the reason, besides the purpose of general restoration of course).
And the dome from right below, with four seraphims at the corners. Unfortunately, the dome was so big that even with my wide-angle camera, I couldn't catch all of it that way. So have another one:
The most surprising thing might possibly be though that it's so very bright inside. Of course there were also artificial lights, but most of the light came from outside. There are just so many windows, it's incredible!
The entry to the upper galleries (for the women, but also for the Sultan I believe). Suprisingly, there were barely any stairs, but a long and narrow winding slope. I didn't complain, I hate stairs with a passion but never minded slopes that much before.:)
And that's what it looked like upstairs.
And a nice view too:
One of the seraphim with a covered face...
...and another one uncovered.
Archangel Gabriel...
...and several byzantine emperors and empresses, along with the Christ and/or Virgin Mary:
This one is my personal favorite, you may not be able to see it in this picture, but the mosaics were so detailed and so very very beautiful!*_*
Also, you might want to welcome a change from the mosaic spammage now, so have a few cistern pics.;D
The basilica cistern was right across the street and several steps down to the underground.
And woooah, definitly one of my favorites, the atmosphere was so great! Except... that it was really humid inside (and by that I mean that it was so humid it was literaly raining from the ceiling!) and I didn't notice that my lens got all fogged up:
...and still didn't notice:
Nevermind, I liked the effect anyway. Runway to Hell FTW!:D
And this is when I finally noticed, that no, it wasn't the lack of light that would make my pictures all wobly and blurred:
Say what you want, but I love those pictures!*_* So here, since your connection can certainly handle another one.~♥
There was also a café down there. But as much as I loved the place, I wasn't that fond of being rained on while drinking a coffee, and I would have felt even more stupid to use my umbrella indoors. And since I was a wuss and prefered my coffee in combination with a working heater I could snuggle with, since, you know, it wasn't exactly warm what with all that white stuff lying around outside, so no coffee for me.
Apparently, when the byzantine folks built that cistern back in early christian times, they used about everything they could find as building material, and that included especially everything they could gather from temples for the old gods and godesses. Which is why you had a huge collection of colomn patchwork, almost each of them in a completely different style. Oh, and a random Medusa staring at you from upside down. There was another one with the face on the side a few metres away, but according to my South Korean companion (who had done his homework better than I did I must admit), no one knows why they are positioned that way. Possibly because people back then just didn't care, or deliberately didn't want them to face the right direction, or... well, who knows.
And as the last picture, have the Blue Mosque under a snow blanket.~♥
I think I definitely went overboard with the picture spam this time. Did I go overboard? I'm sure I did. I'll send virtual Turkish Delights to whomever complains that their connection broke down after that pic spam and... Oh, nevermind, here, have virtuel Turkish Delights for everyone, help yourselves.~♥
According to my plan, there should be two more reports left, Topkapı palace and the Blue Mosque. The next one (Topkapı) should be very image-heavy as well, so I'll see when I'll come around to do that one.^^;
*shuffles away to help herself to a hot cocoa to fight the cold*