I am filing this under the History category because clearly this is history in the making. The Majestic Hagia Sophia welcomed congregants for her first Cuma (Jumaa) Prayer in her halls, after 86 years of being a museum.
I followed closely the news regarding the Hagia Sophia starting form the reading of the Qura’n during the anniversary of the conquest of Istanbul in May to its recent reversion to a mosque, simply because it is dear to my heart. I loved the monument for its amazing history, incredible architecture and its long, complicated yet colourful history and value. As you may know, a monument of almost 1500 years of history, there would be lots of things that might clash with the it being a newly reverted mosque and Muslim sensitivities. I worry about the beautiful mosaics on how they will be treated and other historical points of interest inside the building itself. There are lots of crosses and Christian imagery inside this monuments. I am glad that on last Friday, 24 of July, during the Cuma Prayer service. the mosaics are safe and secure concealed behind a curtain.
I also see how the cold marble floor were covered with a deep turquoise coloured prayer rug while thinking about the points of interest on the floor – what about the Omphalion near the Hunkar Mahfili? I am glad to report that the carpet went around these special places, allowing everyone to be able to see them. What’s more I think by installing the carpets they are protecting the millenia old marble floors, so I think that’s a win-win situation.
Even the resident cat Gli is not safe from the news frenzy gathered by this reversion of this once a Byzantine church. But the Turkish Government in a report said that she will still be welcomed inside the mosque like all other cats. I would honestly be surprised if she would be banished from the monument, because the Turkish people are so loving to stray animals. when the carpets were laid upon the marble floor of the mosque, even Gli herself approve of it!
There are apparently a lot of media madness and frenzy surrounding the reversion of the mosque and the subsequent issues regarding the historical characteristics like the mosaics installed in the monument. The Turkish Government I believed had taken utmost care regarding protecting these special artifacts, recognizing them as the undeniably heritage of the monument. We are rest assured under the hands of the Turkish Government that this reversion does not do any harm to the Hagia Sophia, kudos for them!
Now here are several images I had taken from the internet about the recent reversion of the monument and the first Cuma prayer in the mosque.
(It seems like the video cannot be shared here, but you can foolow the link and see the video on the NY times website)
(Apparently the picture with Gli the cat lying on the newly laid carpet of Hagia Sophia was deleted, unfortunately. If you wish to see a small pixelated unshareable picture of it, you can google Gli lying on Hagia Sophia Carpet. )
This is a continuation of the Bursa visit of the previous post I did. When I was in Turkey I had the chance to do a day trip to Yalova, a spa city a ferry ride away from Istanbul and then towards to Bursa which is a bus ride away from Yalova. You can easily follow the same trip I did here when you have the chance to visit Istanbul.
After visiting the Ulu Camii mosque we went straight to Koza Han, a historical silk market near the city centre, which is just really a short walk away from the mosque. The bazaar is much different from the closed corridors of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, being a more open, colonnaded building. The market has two stories, both of them open to central courtyard full of trees and overflowing stools, small eateries and multicoloured patio umbrellas. Just about in the center of this courtyard is a small mosque (a prayer hall sized domed building) on arched stilts with a staircase going straight up to the second floor of the building, charming in presentation.
The bazaar is, like Grand Bazaar, is still a functioning commercial building. As I had noted before, this market is well known for silks, so the second floor ( where you initially enter fro the main city square) is quite literally full of shops selling silks, clothing and all sort of fabrics. I didn’t have the chance to go to the lower floor because we were rather rushing our time. I would like to spend a little bit more time here to explore the shops. I saw some antique shops and jewelers from the second floor . I did bought some silk headscarves from this bazaar for my sisters and my mother with the traditional Turkish Iznik motif printed on them.
Even though there is very little to be said about the bazaar in terms of the Islamic art and architecture except for the fact that it is the classical example of Seljuk-Ottoman style of non-religious building. I did see some unique features in this bazaar that is quite worthy of mention. One of the first thing I noticed is the doors which could have been a reproduction of older ones is a very unique Islamic star pattern. It is quite hard to find a five fold star pattern simply because it is quite hard to tessellate a five star pattern effectively, especially on a larger scale. This door in particular, while it is relatively small in size (the size of a common house door if not slightly larger) displays the curious case of the usage of five stars arranged in a five fold pattern. Of course, if the pattern is larger than the one used here, the original designer would have a hard time to tessellate it effectively.
After visiting the Koza Han, we visited another mosque quite close to the bazaar. It is just directly in from of the fountains of the main city square. Apaprently this mosque is earlier than the Ulu Camii, being built in 1340. Again this mosque is another fine example of the pre-conquest of Constantinople era of the Ottoman Empire. The mosque is smaller than Ulu Camii, of course, and the floor plan is different as well as it is more reminiscent of another mosque that we will be visiting later.
The mosque is well maintained. It seems that the mosque had suffered from earthquakes several times over the century, but the authorities did a great job at doing preservation work. The decoration is a common Ottoman painted decoration (probably done at a later time and just restored over time). The colours are a bit more muted – browns, mellow greens and yellows as well as dashes of dark red and blue and a little bit of gold are used throughout the mosque. The decorations are much more simpler than Ulu Camii – no large calligraphic works on the walls except for small medallions displaying the names of Allah, the Prophet, his companions and his grandsons, which is quite common in Turkish mosques.
After the short excursion to the mosque we then took a ride on the city’s tram going eastward to the famous Yesil Camii and Turbe, the beautiful turquoise tiled building that gives Bursa the name of Green City.
Koza Han courtyard view with the mosque in the middle. The unique five pointed star pattern on the entrance doorOrhan Gazi Mosque main prayer hallThe main dome of Orhan Gazi MosqueThe beautifully and tastefully decorated Mihrab
If you follow world news and/or have social media account, there is a chance that would have seen the news about the Hagia Sophia.
Last Friday, 10th of July, the Turkey State Council reinstated the status of Hagia Sophia or the Ayasofya in Turkish, from a museum back into a mosque, much to the chagrin of the international community. It was turned into a museum by Ataturk about 86 years ago after establishing the Republic of Turkey. There are a lot of comments regarding this reversion, even as the plans were announced. There were almost equal reactions – many Turkish and international community, mostly Muslims , praised the move by President Erdogan, calling it a victory for the Muslims. while on the other hand, there are the opposer of this as well.
If you follow world news and/or have social media account, there is a chance that would have seen the news about the Hagia Sophia.
Hagia Sophia is one of the monuments that I had visited during my trip to Istanbul back in 2017. You can read all about it here :
Last Friday, 10th of July, the Turkey State Council reinstated the status of Hagia Sophia or the Ayasofya in Turkish, from a museum back into a mosque, much to the chagrin of the international community. It was turned into a museum by Ataturk about 86 years ago after establishing the Republic of Turkey. There are a lot of comments regarding this reversion, even as the plans were announced. many Turkish and international Muslim community , praised the move by President Erdogan, calling it a victory for Islam. On the other hand, opposition, mainly from Greece, Russia, the EU and US, criticized this change of status.
I am not going to delve into any political aspects of this issue, but I want to express my feelings about this. I have mixed feelings about it. As a Muslim, I am glad to be able to pray in this mosque again in the future as well as to be able to freely visit it. But at the same time I am worried about the Byzantine mosaics that are in the mosque. What will happen to them? They are beautiful examples of Byzantine Christian art and of a very important historical artifacts. To cover them again like what was done during the Ottoman times would be rather a terrible idea because no one would be able to see them again. If they decide to move the mosaics on the other hand, they might (and will) destroy these pieces of art. As an appreciator of art I enjoy art in all forms, even those which aren’t in my field, in this case Christian devotional artwork, and just like botched art restoration like this, knowing that these works are in danger breaks my heart.
This issue is such a complicated one to be honest, and just to view it on one opinion only would be a selfish perspective. I am happy to see that this museum is turned into a mosque again, I am just concerned with the Christian symbols inside and what will happen to them.
UPDATE : Apparently they will use “Optical, light-based technology, carpets and curtains” to cover up the mosaics for every time Islamic prayer is conducted. Read here :
Here are some of the mosaics I took at the Hagia Sophia in 2017, before it was reverted into a mosque. What is your views about this? Do you support this move, or are you one of the dissidents? Or perhaps, you are like me, in between the two positions? Tell me down below in the comments!
The Virgin Mary and Jesus Mosaic directly above the Mihrab, where the apse of the former cathedral used to be.An image of a seated Jesus above the narthex before entering the main hall.Crosses underneath superimposed floral motifs, probably happened during the Iconoclastic era in Christianity. These are not mosaics but painting (I presume) but still it is an important part of the Christian period of the mosque. The Comnenus mosaic, dating from the 1122, showing the Virgin Mary and Jesus flanked by Constantine IX Monomachus and Empress ZoeA detail of the Deesis Mosaic, one of the most famous Christian Byzantine artwork in the Hagia Sophia. It depicts Jesus, John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary, made in 1261
Note : I know that Bursa is not a part of Istanbul, in fact it is quite far from the city. Its just that the series so far had been Appreciation – Istanbul (although thinking about it I should have titled it Turkey instead, seeing that I actually went to a few cities in Turkey) so it is not right, at least for me, to change the title to something else for this post only doesn’t make sense. So I am continuing the title as it is, but also noting that for a few posts in this series I will be talking about my time in Bursa. Now that’s out of the way, let’s continue on our blog!
The next day after visiting Ortakoy mosque, my friend wanted to bring me to Yalova, a small city famed for its hot springs as well as Bursa, one of the most important city in Turkey historically. The city was the first major city of the Ottoman Empire before the conquest of Istanbul. The city is also the resting place of the founder of the Ottoman empire, Osman Gazi.
To go there from Istanbul, we had to take a ferry from Yenikapı and incidently it was not very far from the hotel where I stayed at. But I totally miscalculated the speed of my legs and I arrived at the ferry port a few minutes before they stopped selling the ticket for the morning departure. I think we got to the ferry by 8am and went to Yalova. While there we went to Termal, the hot spring area. We went there for a few hours to enjoy the baths before going to Bursa, which is a short bus ride away.
Arriving in Bursa, we went almost directly to the main square of the city where most of the attractions of the city are situated. We went straight to one of the main attraction of the city, Ulu Camii, near the city centre.
The Grand Mosque of Bursa, or the Ulu Camii in Turkish is the largest mosque in Bursa, build in 1399 by Sultan Beyazid I. This mosque was built before the conquest of Istanbul, so it is a perfect example of Ottoman architecture prior to 1453. It is a stark difference between the older architecture of the Ottomans and the newer ones, as they older ones tend to have more traditional, Seljuk influenced architectural language as opposed to the ones in Istanbul. I want to discuss this architectural difference in another post, so please stay tuned for that.
The first time I entered the mosque I was bewildered at how different this mosque looks and feels compared to the ones I had visited in Istanbul. There were lots of people here : devotees, tourists, families and children playing. The mosque feels much more open despite there are lot less of windows in the mosque, perhaps because of all the people. It was not as tall or big as the imperial mosques I had visited before, it was just a hypostyled hall full of large square pillars. However once you get your footing you realize the uniqueness of this mosque and the beauty that makes it awe-inspiring.
Almost in an instant as you step in you would be meet a literal well of light in the middle of the prayer hall. From wherever you enter (in my case I entered from a side entrance) you can always see the center of the mosque and a pillar of light. It is apparently under skylight dome of the mosque which affords the mosque a main light source. Under the pillar of light is the ablution fountain, another obvious difference to other mosques I had visited before. Another element of the mosque that you would notice straightaway would be the beautiful and very large calligraphy masterpieces dotted throughout the mosque. You can see it all over – on the four sides of the square pillars, the wall, above the entrance, underneath the dome arches…anywhere you can imagine. It is also supplemented by Ottoman style decorative paintings, although judging from the quality and style it would be a relatively recent work or perhaps a restoration. The mosque also functions as some sort of a museum – you can see historical prayer carpets and even Ottoman covering of the Kaaba Door on display at several different points inside of the mosque. When you finally came to the front of the mosque toward the Mihrab wall you can see these exquisite work of arts in the form of the Mimbar and the Mihrab itself. The mimbar is lavishly decorated – the golden calligraphic work and vegetal motifs paired with the rich dark colour of the wood makes it pop out extremely well. Also another strange thing to note about this mimbar, it is said that the left panel shows the planets of the solar system including Pluto and the Sun in the forms of bulging star shapes among the usual Islamic star pattern. Keep in mind that during the building of this mosque or even the mimbar irself, Pluto was not even discovered yet (it was discovered in 1930) so the idea alone of having the representation of the planets is astounding. From my years of observing Islamic art, this mimbar is certainly unique, especially because of the bulging shapes . I do not know the true story but apparently this is debunked by someone, citing it was only a design choice.
Similarly, the Mihrab is decorated in the same way with the Mimbar. Gold is the main decoration for the Mihrab with dark blue and red paint. Golden calligraphy is here as well, as well as exquisite Muqarnas in the arch of the Mihrab. Above the Mihrab is a huge calligraphic work depicting the name of Allah and Muhammad, flanked by two pretty stained glass windows. The design of the Mihrab is actually a very traditional one ; a painted representation of a mosque lamp between two pillars, a motif that I can see commonly here in Turkey.
Going out of the mosque from the main gate, I noticed the traditional Muqarna gate of the mosque. Although it is quite still the same with the doors that I had seen for the mosques in Istanbul, it has a slight difference although I cannot point it well enough. I think I will attempt to explain why I felt it was different in another post. I also noticed, as I passed by the gate, there are a lot of domes inside the mosque – 20 domes to be exact. Although the domes are not exactly able to be seen in the front of the gate, you can absolutely see it inside. Apparently the Sultan who built this mosque opted for 20 domes instead of 20 mosques he had promised after winning the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396 which is rather clever to be honest! There are two minarets out of the gate that I exited the mosque from, flanking each side. It is said that the mosque originally had only one minaret but another one was later added as it was detached from the main building. There are two domed ablution fountains as well out of the gate, and another smaller fountain in the middle.
Afterwards we went on to visit another of Bursa’s main attraction, the Koza Han, Bursa’s Silk bazaar, and the Orhan Gazi Mosque nearby. Afterward we visited the Yesil Camii and Turbe, which is a short public transportation ride away. These places you should never miss if you ever have the chance to visit this beautiful green city,
One of the calligraphic work on one of the square pillarThe Mihrab. LAvishly decorated in gold paint, vegetal motifs and gilded calligraphyThe door of the Mimbar. It was surrounded by glass so I could not take proper photos of it because of the glare but yes I saw the alleged planet representation on the left panel of this mimbar. The light well in the middle of the mosque with a still functioning ablution fountain – people are taking their ablutions here as I took the photo. As you can see here there are lots of people visiting the mosque.A selfie in front of the main door of the mosque 🙂
The last post I made I noted that I had visited Dolmabahce Palace, one of the late Ottoman period architectural masterpiece in Istanbul. When I visited the palace I forgot to mention that it also hosted the National Palaces Painting Museum, one of the finest museum displaying Ottoman paintings mostly from the 18th and 19th Century.
Like the rest of the Palace, you cannot take photos inside this museum (or I assume, judging from the glaring eyes of the staff there) so I cannot really show anything much from the place. But the museum displays a lot of beautiful Orientalist paintings, many of which are done by one of my favourite Ottoman painter, Osman Hamdi Bey. There are also paintings by other notable Ottoman painters such as Seker Ahmad Pasha, Hodja Ali Riza and Huseyn Zekai Pasha as well as western Orientalist painters and even Sultan Abdulmecit himself, who is regarded as one of the celebrated Ottoman painter.
I took a photo of one of Osman Hamdi Bey’s painting in the Cinli Kosk of the Istanbul Archeological Museum. That is the first time I had seen his painting in person for the first time. After that I made a point to look out for more of his painting, and coming to this museum is a right choice, as I had the chance to view more of his paintings here alongside other notable Ottoman and western Orientalist painters.
The museum hosted around 200 paintings spread over 11 sections in the former Crown Prince residences of the palace. Although I cannot take pictures in this museum, Here I present to you some of the paintings I saw in the museum, taken from Wikipedia and other sites. I will also show you a general view of the interior of the museum which is actually quite beautiful in its own right as well. I will also add a Youtube link here celebrating one of his famous artwork here., although this particular one is not featured in this museum.
There are a lot of paintings in this museum as I noted before, but I cannot take any pictures inside thus I cannot post too much of them here. I posted here what I had saw in the museum. Most of the paintings on display there was not available online ; except these ones that I could find –
Fountain of Youth, Osman Hamdi Bey. Currently in Alte Nationalgalrie in Berlin. This is the painting I seen in the Istanbul Archeological Museum, featuring the room in the Cinli Kosk.
Mehmet II entering Constantiople, Fausto Zonaro. One of the most famous painting in Turkey which is reproduced very often. I see this painting next to Sultan Mehmet’s PortraitConquest of Constantinople, Fausto Zonaro. This one doesnt get reproduced often, but it is still displayed in the museumLady Having Her Hair Combed by a Servant, Osman Hamdi Bey, courtesy of http://artnote.eu/osman-hamdi-bey-an-ottoman-empire-painter/. I think I saw this painting in this gallery. The background reminds me of the Fountain of Youth painting above. The balustrade motif is taken from Topkapi PalaceIvan Constantinovich Aivazovsky – Venice. I think I saw this painting in the gallery. The painter is one of the featured artist in this museum.The Tortoise Trainer, Osman Hamdi Bey. This painting is not in this Museum (it is in PEra Museum though) but I would just like to put it here simply because this is one of his most famous work.A View inside the museum, courtesy of https://www.aa.com.tr/en/culture-and-art/experts-restore-ottoman-paintings-in-istanbul/58017
The video on The Tortoise Trainer I had posted above
Stars in Symmetry 
