Hagia Sophia

The Aya Sofia or Hagia Sophia is one of the archaeological treasures of Istanbul, built in the 6th century by Byzantine Emperor Justinian in his capital, Constantinople.  The building was used as a church from 537 - 1453, converted to a mosque and used in that capacity until 1931, before being established as a museum.

Hagia Sophia is located in Sultan Ahmet section of Istanbul and it a must see on all tourist itineraries as well as many local school groups.

The currrent building is believed to be the third Byzantine church constructed on this site.  A frieze of lambs is thought to be from the second building, built in 415, and destroyed by fire.

The entrance hall arched ceiling is covered with exquisite mosaics.

The dome was the largest built at that time and for the next 1000 years.  Not until St. Peter's in Rome, was a larger dome built.  The dome is 56 meters in height or about 20 stories.  This Byzantine dome had major influence in Ottoman mosque architecture as well as modern day mosque architecture.

In each of the four corners supporting the dome, is a seraphim - a six winged angel charged with caretaking of God's throne.  During the time period the building was used as a mosque, the faces of the seraphim were covered.  Archeaologists have now uncovered the face of one of the seraphim and it is very sweet.

The walls of Hagia Sohpia are covered in rare marbles from the region.  Marble was cut into two or four pieces and opened, like a book to display symmetric designs.

The volume of space in the building is as awesome today as it was to Emperor Justinian, when he first saw it. 

During the Byzantine time period mosaics were added to the walls in all the subsequent centuries.  Empress Zoe established a mosaic of herself, ... 

and her husband on either side of Jesus.  Pictured is Zoe's third husband, Constantine IX, who was on the throne from 1042 - 1055.  As the title of Emperor came through her line, her previous husbands were Emperors and were depicted in the mosaic in earlier years.  It is difficult to see, but Zoe is holding a scroll with Constantine's name, which being longer than the first two husbands, did not fit well and a few characters dropped to a second line.

Hagia Sophia always has some restoration work in progress with associated scaffolding. 

Bronze doors, dated to the 2nd century B.C., brought to Hagia Sophia in the 9th century by Emperor Theophilos were originally from a pagan temple in Tarsus.

If you are interested in reading more about the Byzantine time period, Judith Herrin has an excellent book, titled "Byzantium" with a chapter dedicated to The Church of Hagia Sophia.

Ataturk Museum

A friend and I had a visit to the Ataturk Museum in the Sisli district of Istanbul.  Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was the founder of Turkey's modern republic in 1923.  He lived in this house with his mother and sister from December 1918 to May 1919.  The city eventually purchased the house and turned it into a museum honoring Ataturk and the founding of the republic.

Sisli is a very nice area of Istanbul, with beautiful buildings.  This one is very nicely restored in a pale pink.

No picture taking was allowed inside, although I did sneak one of Mustafa Kemal from 1907, aged 26, having been born in 1881.  He graduated from the Imperial War Academy in 1905, had a successful military career and launched the Turkish War of Independence in 1919 against occupying forces.  In 1923, he was elected president of the newly formed republic and served until his death in 1938.  It was later in the twenties that all Turks were required to establish families names, and Mustafa Kemal's new family name became Ataturk, or father of the Turks.  He is loved by all Turks to this day.

Sisli, being a very nice area, is not without fancy jewelry stores, one featuring gem encrusted animals and bugs.

During the winter, the hot drink, salep, is available in the cafes.  This is a warm, sweet, milk based drink mixed with flour of orchid roots/bulbs.  As the orchids have declined, an artificial flavor has been developed, and the mix is sold in packets, similar to hot chocolate.  Topped with cinnamon, it makes a delicious winter treat.

Black Swan

Black Swan opened in theaters in Turkey this past Friday and I was at the earliest showing in one of the Istanbul theaters.  Movie going is a big time commitment here.

I arrived at the theater for the 11:45 am showing.  By the time I bought my ticket from a Turkish language machine and found theater number 9, I was a little late and missed the first five minutes of advertisements.  I did catch the next 15 minutes of advertisements for banks, chocolate candy and cell telephone service.  Next on the schedule were 10 minutes of movie previews, and at 12:15 pm, the movie finally started.  Mid-way through the film, we had the standard break.  This allows patrons to have a smoke and get something to eat - 5 minutes of silence and another 7 minutes of advertisements - cars, banks, cell phone service and cookies.  The movie was then shown to its final conclusion.

My husband brought Friday's Hurriyet newspaper home and Natalie Portman's Black Swan was given quite a bit of coverage.  In the movie listing, she had 1/3 of a page with all the theaters and show times in Turkey listed.  More than half of the theaters are in Istanbul.

No doubt, some extra coverage was due to today's Academy Awards.  In response to the Turkish question about which is the best film, The Social Network's actor in print, is just the size of Natalie's left leg, below the knee!

Friday's paper has the "Friday" section, and Natalie took the cover page.

The inside article is titled, "Greed Destroying the White Swan".

That gives you a sense that this is a dark movie, if you haven't seen it.  Natalie's performance was excellent and so were the costumes and the dancing.  With a 10 hour time difference with the live award show, I won't be watching.  Tomorrow morning I'll find out if the Turkish press got it right.

Hoppy Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year - the year of the rabbit!  This picture is of Turkish rabbits, not Chinese, but surely, just as cute. 

What we do have in Istanbul that is Chinese, is a photo exhibit at Istanbul Modern by Yao Lu, titled "New Landscapes".  Yao has cleverly created landscapes similar to those painted during the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279), but using photo images of the commonly found green dustproof nets covering construction debris in the landscapes.  From a distance, the photoes look peaceful and poetic.  Upon closer examination, the construction debris mounds are evident, as well as the digitally inserted pagodas, waterfalls, animals, etc.  Wonderful images!

The exhibition is sponsored by the 798 Photo Gallery in Beijing.  For anyone who toured the 798 art district with me in Beijing, this was our first stop.  Their website is located at http://www.798photogallery.cn/ and contains samples of Yao's work as well as other artists.

"New Landscapes" is on exhibit at Istanbul Modern until May 22, 2011 and well worth a visit!

Have a happy, hoppy and healthy Chinese New Year!

Kanyon

Kanyon is a high end shopping mall in Istanbul, which I often frequent to attend my book club, which meets in one of the cafes.  Outside the front entrance to the mall are neighboring tall office buildings.

Looking inside the mall, you can see the man made canyon, for which the mall got it's name "Kanyon".  In Turkish, the letter "c" sounds more like the English "j", so this alternate spelling of canyon sounds more like the English word.

The mall is still sparkling with the Christmas/New Year's/Valentine's Day decorations.

The Vakko department store model with a grape head piece and pine cone bodice advertises a big sale.

The Harvey Nichols department store always has the best windows.  The wooden clothes pin full length evening gown, ...

(a closeup, in case you don't believe they are real clothes pins), and

a baby grand piano made out of cassette tapes.  Great recycle idea!

For me, Kanyon has two good sized book stores with some English books and an Asian restaurant named Wagamama  (a chain from the U.K.) with a tasty grilled sea bass topped salad and celery/apple/mint juice.

Anadolu Kavagi

Yesterday was sunny after a rainy week, so I hopped on the 15A bus to Anadolu Kavagi, the last ferry stop on the Asian side of Istanbul before the Black Sea.  The village is not large and tucked in between forested hills belonging to the Turkish military.  A sign in English at the ferry landing notes that the word "kavagi" is derived from the Turkish word "kavak", which means to hold, to stop, to turn around.  For the past several centuries, this and Rumeli Kavagi, on the European side of the Bosphorus, mark the point where traffic flow into the Bosphorus can be controled.  My own Turkish-English dictionary notes that "kavak" means poplar tree, so I continue to wonder about Turkish signs in English.

Rumeli Kavagi on the opposite bank of the Bosphorus is also a small village known for good fish dinners.  Both villages are popular day trip destinations for Istanbulites.

I hiked inland from the village, which also means up hill, to the remains of the Yoros Castle.  From this vantage point, great views can be had, ...

looking south towards the Bosphorus, and...

north towards the Black Sea.

The castle was built in the Byzantine style of alternating layers of brick and stone, 

and includes marble plaques in Greek, which may identify the name of the family.  During the 14th century, the castle was claimed by Byzantines, Ottomans and Genoese at different times.  As with all real estate, the strategic key was location, location, and location.                                                  

On the hilltop, there were some free range chickens roaming around as well as bashful guinea fowl (?).  They did not let me get too close.

Walking back down the hill, I spotted the most artistic home in the village with their front wall done in broken ceramic pieces, ala Gaudi.

Another enjoyable adventure in Istanbul!