Instanbul Part I: A ROOM WITH A VIEW (and yet another dexter)



Sorry its been so long since we've posted. The trip to Istanbul was fabulous. We stayed at a refurbished Ottoman "wooden house" that had Becky's dream of "A Room With A View" (don't go to sleep on this one Steve!). From our room we looked out over the Marmara Sea. We would rise shortly after the 6am "call to pray" from our local mosque and watch the ships as they headed north to the Bosphorus through to the Black Sea (or in reverse to the Agean Sea).

The hotel provided breakfast up on the terrace. From there you could look get an even broader view of the sea, but could look up the hill to the Blue Mosque. This mosque was built between 1606-1616 by Sultan Ahmet I. His goal was to build something that would outshine the Aya Sofya (coming shortly). We hear it was quite controversial with its six minarets as the only other mosque with as many is in Mecca. The courtyard in front of the main entrance is claimed to be the largest of all Ottoman mosques. The name ("blue") refers to the color of the Iznik tiles that are part of the interior. No flash is allowed inside any of the buildings here, so maybe our camera breaking in Hungary was a "good thing." [This is a cool picture if enlarged. It's better than some of the postcards of the mosque interior, if I do say so myself.]

Leaving the Blue Mosque we headed to Aya Sofya. It is also called Sancta Sophia, Hagia Sophia, and the Church of the Divine Wisdom. It was built/started by Emperor Justinian in the early-mid 6th century. The outside is pretty impressive (note, of course, the minarets added by Mehmet the Conqueror after his conquest of Constantinople in 1453), but again we found the inside to overwhelm the senses. While its the huge dome that has been the marvel historically (30m in diameter) scaffolding set up by UNESCO for restoration made it appear somewhat small. Instead, we wandered around the two floors looking at what is left of the gold mosaic tiles. I say "what is left" because some have worn, but also many were "casualties of theology."

First, there was some discussion about their appropriateness as the Bible makes clear that "images" should not be worshipped. After some serious debate, however, most of the mosaics stayed. However, with the Conquest, they had to go. Islamic art (as laid out in the Quran, the story goes) shouldn't depict anything with an immortal soul.


As luck would have it, many were covered in plaster and later restored. It is pretty hard to pick just one for the blog. But here's my choice for "mosaic of the day." [Another "must enlarge" picture.]

Istanbul has so many outstanding museums. Several can be found in the complex known as Topkapi Palace (home to the Sultans). Mehmet the Conqueror bulit the first stage of the palace and lived here until his death in 1481. It remained the home to Sultans until Mahmut II (1839). After this time, Sultans moved to other palaces built along the Bosphorus (we have pictures of those too if you are interested). Because of limited time (I have 34 midterms to grade this weekend), I've decided to make comments on only two parts of this palace complex.

One is the Topkapi Harem (or the private quarters of the Sultan). Here is the story we were told: the women of the Harem were schooled in Islam and Turkish culture and language as well as music, reading,writing and dance. They could leave after a period of time and could marry (Free education. Sounds good- huh?). The Sultan was allowed by Islamic law to have four legitimate wives, but could support many more concubines. Our guide said only up to 12 "favorites" were kept for sexual relations, while the rest (could be hundreds) were only for entertainment (each required to play a musical instrument) But this may not always have been the case as Murat III is reported to have had 112 children, so go figure (not sounding like as much fun anymore). The picture shown here has Becky in the Harem--yikes, get me outa here. The reason I picked this is to highlight the gorgeous tiles and point out the great "turban shelves." (Also, I heard that my mom likes to see pictures of me.)

The other interesting museum in the palace complex is the Treasury. I am not including a picture of it (not interesting from the outside, and no pictures allowed inside) but rather a picture of another interesting exterior shot (the Circumcision Room). So, inside the Treasury are some pretty amazing things. There are 48kg candlesticks, jewel encrusted swords and thrones (one beautiful one "received" from India), and the "spoonmaker's" diamond. This teardrop shaped stone is 86 carats and was worn by Mehmet IV at his coronation. The reason for its name is that it was found at a garbage dump and sold by a street vendor for three spoons. But now we reach the most interesting item (I leave it up to you to decide its authenticity). Displayed in a lighted case was a skull and hand fragments (cased in jewels) of St. John the Baptist. This trip is turning into the tour of "dexters" isn't it?

I must take a break from blogging (and my sister leaves work in an hour--so here you go Pam). You'll need to stay tuned for Istanful, Part II. Not sure what the theme will be-- but I'm sure it will include more mosaics and maybe a bit on the Bosphorus.


Until then I leave you with a picture with some relevance to us here in Bulgaria. This completely (inside and out) cast-iron church was constructed from pieces shipped down the Danube and across the Balck Sea from Vienna on 100 barges in 1871. During the time of the Ottoman Empire the Orthodox church faced considerable "ethnic" divisions. The leader, a Greek, wanted no recognition of ethnic divisions, but only ONE church. The pressures of nationalism were too great and the sultan was forced to recongizse some sort of religious autonomy for the Bulgars. The gates were locked, but the caretaker let us in for a look. Inside we found icons of the now-known-by-us Ivan Rilski. A little bit of "home."