Day 16: Caught in a theological and cultural time warp

Another morning of packing suitcases and leaving hotels. We would bid farewell to Istanbul today, but not before enjoying a beautiful breakfast rainbow and then playing exotic bag stack in the elevator in an an attempt to get all of our bulging suitcases down to the lobby for departure. When you see this stairwell you don't wonder why we needed to stack the lifts. We then spent three and a half hours of sightseeing, caught somewhere between ancient Roman history and the 17^th century, I am talking about our visits to the Hippodrome, Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia  or the Church of Holy Wisdom.

We started with the Hippodrome. Reminiscent of the chariot racing scene in Ben Hur, the Hippodrome was the ancient Roman cultural sporting and political centre. The area which is still a local meeting pace contains three obelisks. The first dates back to ancient Egyptian times even though the granite on it makes it look almost brand new. It was transported to this part of the world from Egypt in about 300 BCE but it took over a hundred years for them to be able to move it into place in the hippodrome. The second monument is greenish copper and is missing the three snake motif from the top, but it is an early 5^th century monument whereas the last obelisk is only dating back from late Byzantine time. They are all very beautiful and the oldest one has a marked base which tells about the chariot races and the development of the blue and green teams and their subsequent development into political divisions in the city.

Adjacent to the Hippodrome is the Blue Mosque or the Sultan Ahmet Mosque. Here we moved forward in history to about the 1700s when this building was created. Lining up at the visitors entrance we took off our shoes. It was like stepping into a beautiful blue haze. The Nicea blue Isnik tile work from which the mosque derives its nickname dominates the interior of the building and the stained glass on the side that faces Mecca is exquisite. The lights hang low in the mosque because originally they were oil and paraffin lamps and needed to be able to be reached from floor level before the days of switches! All the features of a mosque were there, and this mosque has 6 minarets. This is most unusual because most mosques have 2, the sultan’s mosque may usually have 4, but this one has 6 because Istanbul was the centre of Islamic life in the Ottoman Empire when it was built in the 1700s and it was desirable for it to have an extra minaret over the mosque in Medina that has 5 minarets. Shoes refitted we walked across the square and stood in time between the 4^th century and the 17^th century, between the Christian world and the Islamic world as we stood between the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. Holy Wisdom.  

The building that stands here in the heart of old Istanbul today is the third church to have been built on the place. The first, built by Constantine in the 4^th century was destroyed with little remnant, the second built in the 5^th century is in evidence with its lintel and foundations apparent near the entrance to the present 6^th century Byzantine masterpiece, built by St Justinius in about 7 years. It was the cathedral church of byzantine Christianity until the Ottoman invasion in 1453 when it became used as a mosque. In 1930 Ataturk decreed that this was a building for the world and so today the Hagia Sophia is a museum which tells an amazing story of the genesis of Christianity and the power of Muslim influence over time. It is a huge overwhelming outstanding building. The outer narthex is bare walled with no remaining evidence of the beautiful frescos and mosaics that covered it. In the inner narthex there is some evidence of the paint work and mosaics with their glistening guilt and glass. Once overstepping the threshold I became engulfed by this enormous worship space. As it was most recently a mosque, and of course because Turkey is a predominantly Muslim country, the most dominant religious embellishment is still Islamic. The discs with the names Allah Mohammed and the 4 righteous Caliphs definitely dominate the space as does the mihrab and minbar. But above all these is the uncovered and restored image of the Virgin mother in amazing mosaic. Restoration on the arches to the side reveals four angels one of which is fairly well restored. To imagine the entire building covered in these beautiful artworks is really mind-blowing. We went to the upper gallery up a very very long ramp and from the top the perspective was even better as we walked around the gallery and saw mosaic pieces and could look down and get a different perspective on the hugeness of the space and an understanding of infant Christianity emerging from persecution to grandeur in the world as represented in basilica architecture. Two significant pieces of the basilica really caught my attention. The best preserve mosaic is at the entrance to the inner narthex and features Christ in the centre with Justinius and Constantine on either side of the Saviour. The other feature was the baptistery that is found in an ante courtyard. Apparently, it is a vessel of marble that could have been able to be free standing, unlike the earlier ones we had seen that were hewn from rock and lined with marble. What an experience that was. 

It was time to head to the airport and undertake the exotic dance that is group check-in. I think the staff had a heart attack when they saw all our bags, as we Aussies don’t travel light! The flight was smooth and only took an hour and we had arrived in the mountains of Kayseri, with their snowcapped peaks. About an hour from the airport is our hotel, in the middle of a high rise semi deserted town in the middle of nowhere, our stay for the night. Mass at tables in the conference room made for an interesting experience and the Cardinal’s homily on the nature of Christ and belief was an interesting juxtaposition to the Holy wisdom we had experienced today at Hagia Sophia. And so to bed at the end of another day of sensory overload. What a blessing this pilgrimage is.