Hagia Sophia and Her Identity Crisis

There are almost 3,000 mosques in Istanbul alone. To those familiar with traveling in the Middle East, you'll understand what I mean when I say, "I don't sleep." I'm always tired. I'm talking tried-to-shampoo-my-face-in-the-shower tired.

If you must know, I blame the Adhan for my lack of sleep. Before you perverts get any ideas, the Adhan is not a person. It is the call to prayer, which summons Muslims to mandatory prayers around five times a day...including the middle of the night. The call to prayer is heard throughout the city.

It sounds like this:

I think it's amazing, it's beautiful, fascinating and incredibly hard to sleep through. Which, I guess, is the point of installing speakers in the mosques' minarets. The video features the Blue Mosque, which I'll get to later. I'm dedicated to helping Hagia Sophia figure out who she is.

Hagia Sophia (Greek for ‘Holy wisdom’) was built in her present form between 532 and 537 by the orders of Emperor Justinian…whoever that is.

Hagia Sophia is one of the greatest examples of Byzantine architecture with its domes, mosaics and marble pillars. 

When I learn this, I quickly ask “532 what? Days?” My question is met with stares and is ultimately ignored. It takes me a while to figure out my tour guide meant the year 532...I’m having an off day. It was originally built in 360 (it was destroyed and rebuilt for those also confused by numbers) by Constantine the Great and served as a cathedral until 1453.



Hagia Sophia was the largest cathedral in the entire world for more than 1,000 years.



The building is made out of materials brought from Athens, Rome, Ephesus and Delphi.

I must’ve spent a good year of high school learning about Constantine (we’re on a first-name basis) but I only remember three things:

1.       He was the first monarch to embrace Christianity.

2.       He called Palestine the “Holy Land.”

3.       He built a bunch of churches in Palestine and made it the center of Christianity.

DIGRESSION.

In 1204, crusaders attacked and desecrated the cathedral, which is why most of Hagia Sophia’s riches can be seen today in St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, not Istanbul. Thieves.

I believe at this point, the cathedral became Roman Catholic as opposed to Eastern Orthodox.

Then in 1453, Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror wandered in to the city of Constantinople (Istanbul, we’ve covered this) and decided to turn the beautiful cathedral in to his imperial mosque. At least that is what my tour guide says. I doubt the conquest was that simple. I don’t know if my guide is in a hurry to be somewhere or is trying to set the record for fastest tour ever given, but I feel like he’s rushing me. I get this impression from him grabbing my arm and pulling me along.

From then on, Hagia Sophia, who was probably suffering from serious identity crisis, served as a mosque -- the principle mosque of Istanbul for almost 500 years. Finally, in 1934, under Turkish president Kemal Atatürk, Hagia Sofia was secularized and turned into a museum.

Tour guide: "The end."
Me: "But-"
Tour guide: "Back to the bus!"
Woman 1: "Where are the riches now? Poland?"
Woman 2: "No, France."
Me: "Venice."
Woman 1: "Poland is like France, but sideways."
Me: "What? They're in Venice!"

Both women walk away.

AM I INVISIBLE?

Four minarets were added while under the posession of the Ottomans.



Minarets are distinctive architectural features of Islamic mosques.



The Turkish flag has the same symbols as the late flag of the Ottoman Empire.



After the building was converted in to a mosque, the mosaics were plastered over due to Islam's ban on representational imagery. Now that they've been removed, you can still see archangels Gabriel and Michael.