"The church presents a most glorious spectacle, extraordinary to those who behold it and altogether incredible to those who are told of it. In height it rises to the very heavens and overtops the neighboring houses like a ship anchored among them, appearing above the city which it adorns and forms a part of... It is distinguished by indescribable beauty, excelling both in its size and the harmonies of its measure..." - The chronicler Procopius, during the reign of Emperor Justinian (527 - 565)
As we entered the Aya Sofia, we were overwhelmed by the size of the basilica and the ingenuity of mankind to have constructed such an incredible structure, long before the advent of modern construction technology.
We were welcomed into the Aya Sofya by this wondrously detailed and intricate mosaic right above the doorway dating back to the era of Emperor Basil II (976 - 1025). The mosaic depicts Virgin Mary seated with the Christ. "Constantine the great emperor among the saints" is to her right, presenting her with the city of Constantinople. "Justinian the illustrious emperor" is to her left, offering her Haghia Sophia...
When Constantinople was overrun by the Ottomans in May 1453, Sultan Mehmet II allowed his troops three days of unbridled pillage. Aya Sofya as ransacked as well, as the invaders believed it housed the treasures of the city.
Throughout the siege, the basilica sheltered citizens of Constantinople who ultimately became spoils to be divided amongst the Ottoman invaders. Aya Sofya was desecrated and looted, and occupants enslaved, violated, raped and slaughtered. The Christian priests continued to perform religious rites until forcibly stopped by the invaders. Then Mehmet entered the church and proclaimed that the Aya Sofya would now be a mosque, the imperial mosque of the Ottomans.
And Mehmet ordered a renovation of the basilica turned mosque. Christian motifs were replaced with Islamic symbols and verses. Those mosaics that were too high for them to reach were spared from destruction or defacement. Minarets were constructed around the basilica sealing its fate.
Clearly, in order to establish his sovereignty, the lusting, power-hungry invader seeks to obliterate any symbols and relics of the past. There is a great of pain in this for those who are the vanquished - those who succumb have lesser pain but those who resist face a horrific future. We've seen this since times immemorial - religious texts of all cultures allude to this. This happened when Muslim invaders drove the Zoroastrians out of Persia, it happened in India where Hindu temples were converted to mosques, it happened in Latin America where entire races were obliterated by the Spanish invaders and then again during the world wars and more recently in the Middle East conflicts, where Babylonian relics were destroyed, sadly lost forever for future generations of mankind.
Murad III, the 16th century sultan brought back two large alabaster Hellenistic urns from his conquests of Pergamon in Greece...
See the contrasts - a mosaic of Virgin with baby Christ with two medallions with Islamic verses. Obviously, the Ottoman invaders could not reach that high to destroy it...
In 1935, the Turkish President, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, decommissioned the mosque and converted the Aya Sofya into a museum.As the prayer carpets were removed, the marble floor decorations such as the Omphalion were revealed for the first time in centuries.
A series of renovation, conservation and repair activities have made Aya Sofya a popular attraction, getting in an astounding 3.3 million visitors in 2014. But with rapid de-secularisation of Turkey, there are voices calling for restoration of the Aya Sofya as a place of worship.
The mihrab of Aya Sofya. This rounded niche in the wall that marks the direction of Mecca, in Saudi Arabia. This is the exact location where the Eastern and Western churches split on July 16, 1054...
This tall freestanding stairway to the right of the mihrab is the minbar, the pulpit from which the sermons were given...
The muezzin gallery...
The lovely stained glass...
The minbar...
Teeming with visitors, the Aya Sofya is indeed a delightful attraction, but it does send shivers down my spine to think of the innocent Christians who were massacred here in the 1400s...
Byzantine Christian motifs on the ceiling...
While eight huge levhas (medallions), inscribed by the calligrapher Mustafa Izzet Efendi, hang from the piers at the gallery level, a mosaic in the centre reminds of the church that was once here. These lehvas bear islamic inscriptions. These were added by the Fossati brothers during their restoration work in the mid 1800s, which was commissioned by Sultan Abdul Mecit...
The age shows...
Looking around...
And then we proceed to the viewing gallery upstairs...
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